CIL: Created Irken Life form
by Remliss Nadie
Summary: A normal girl's life is changed forever when she meets a strange new kid at skool and becomes obsessed with finding the answers to his secrets. Dib claims he's an alien, but believeing him and investigating only brings more trouble than she can handle.
1. Chapter 1:: When Rem met Zim

****Introduction****  
  
I'm Rem, Remliss Nadie… I wasn't always called that, however. Before, I was Remliss Salvatore. No, I didn't get married, or go into the witness protection program. 9_9 It all started…  
  
With an alien.  
  
I think I should start at the beginning for this to make any sense… I started creating and writing stories of "myself" about a year ago. The stories I would write were about the Almighty Tallests' sister, Rem, who just happened to grow taller than the both of them while they were away. Of course, Red and Purple didn't want their sister to be the Almighty Tallest, so they locked her in a dungeon for four years, just to get her out of the way. (Eh, how nice.)  
  
Sometime durring the end of those 4 years, back on earth, Dib infiltrates Zim's lab during a blackout and destroys everything, including Gir, and gets very close to destroying Zim.  
  
And all with a wooden baseball bat. Dib just never ceases to amaze, doesn't he?  
  
So, Zim grabs the broken Gir and runs away to the city where he finds shelter working as a Chicky Licky employee, sending regular help signals to Red and Purple for backup.  
  
Anyway, Red and Purple finally get really annoyed by Zim's all-too-frequent help calls, so they get this great idea to "help" Zim AND get rid of the lurking Rem by sending Rem to earth to help Zim with his little dilemma. The Tallest give Rem a Sir unit, a Voot Runner and send her away to Earth.  
  
To put the rest in an even bigger blur, Rem gets to earth, helps Zim battle Dib (who doesn't really get defeated, just seems to, but then "gets better."), helps Zim fix his base and is Zim's new roommate. By that time Rem's feeling pretty good about her "huge accomplishment," but of course she soon realizes that she was also tricked by Red and Purple, and was only sent to Earth as permanent banishment from Irk.  
  
And then she goes kind of insane.  
  
The rest is just various episodes of Zim and Rem - doin' STUFF!!  
  
Can you tell it's totally fake yet? I mean think about it - There is no WAY that Rem could be the Tallest's sister, because Irkens are born in mass spawning labs, and none of them have any real parents or direct relatives…  
  
Anyway, I am Rem.  
  
The real Rem, not the one I write about in stories. Those stories are nothing but me lying to myself. Simply nothing more than the ways I wish my life were. Or would have been.  
  
You may be wondering to yourself, "Wait a minute, why would you want **her** life? Didn't you just tell me how horrible Rem's life was? You're crazy."  
  
Well, maybe I am. You'll just have to decide that for yourself.  
  
It's true, in my stories Rem does lead a fairly tragic life. However, compared to my real life, it's nothing.  
  
Nothing at all.  
  
You want to hear the real story?  
  
Fine.  
  
I am Rem.  
  
And this is my story.  
  
****(the great assigning)****  
  
Somewhere in The galaxies, somewhere billions and billions of miles away from Earth, lay a planet.  
  
Planet Conventia.  
  
On this planet the fate of the universe is being given out to the 18 invaders of Irk, each with their own assignment. The invaders were to go to their assigned planets and discover its weaknesses. Then, the Armada would come to do an "organic sweep", destroying all life on that planet. The planet's inhabitants would either be either enslaved or killed, and the planet would be claimed as Irken property and rebuilt to fit whatever purpose Irk had set aside for it.  
  
This method of conquest was what made Irk such a powerful empire. It always worked, and the planet they were invading never suspected a thing.  
  
However, somewhere in this meeting on Conventia, this "Great Assigning" as it was called, something went wrong. One Irken who shouldn't have come showed up and demanded his own planet to conquer.  
  
Zim.  
  
Zim, who was banished from Irk years ago for attempting to destroy his own planet with a Frontline BattleMech. He was sent to Foodcourtia for this, but he "quit" being banished when he heard about the Great Assigning.  
  
Obviously, the Almighty Tallest didn't approve of this, so they sent Zim to Earth, a useless space-rock with stupid inhabitants incapable of interplanetary communication.  
  
All Zim was given was an idiot SIR unit, called Gir, and a cheap Voot Runner. Nevertheless, Zim took want he was given and set out to conquer Earth.  
  
Back on Earth, safe in my own room, I had no clue how much impact this little Irken would have on my life.  
  
****Chapter 1**  
**(when Rem met Zim)****  
  
"Have you seen the new kid?"  
  
"What new kid?"  
  
"The one in Ms. Bitters class. Good LORD, you wouldn't believe how weird lookin' he is!!"  
  
I half smiled at my friend 15. "Hey, that's not cool… But what's he look like?" I asked.  
  
"He's all green! And he doesn't have a nose OR ears!"  
  
"Really?" I asked skeptically "Okay, that IS weird!"  
  
"And ya know what? He says it's a skin condition," said 15.  
  
"Ugh, I hope it's not contagious! I'd just die if I was all green!" I scrunched up my eyes and stuck out my tongue at 15 in partial disgust.  
  
"So, what's his name?" I asked 15, my expression changing suddenly.  
  
"Zim." he replied  
  
"Zim? That's a weird name…" I stated.  
  
"Your'e one to talk, **Rem**!" 15 said playfully.  
  
"At least I'm not named after a number!" I said. At that we both burst out laughing. Sometimes, It seemed, 15 went LOOKING for me to ridicule him. 15 and I were best friends, but if you didn't know that, you'd think we were perhaps worst enemies. We loved to make fun of each other and play practical jokes on one another. Sometimes… Well, lots of times we would get together and do the same things to other people. Sometimes it was really funny, but other times we got in a lot of trouble.  
  
After a few seconds the laughter died down and we were left sitting there in silence. I looked down at the other children playing on the blacktop below us. Some children were playing with jump ropes or sports equipment, while others just sat around and talked. There were always the odd ones though, like the "rejects" that sat under this dead tree and sulked, or Torque Smacky who just stood around and lifted stuff. (Unless he was busy beating up some smaller kid)  
  
And then there was 15 and me. We sat on this huge stone windowsill way above the playground and watched the other kids, or just talked. And yes, I DID say windowsill. Every lunch period we would climb up there using an old fire escape ladder that led up to the roof, but passed our windowsill along the way. It was one of those ladders that had the big metal guard-door thingy on the front, but all we had to do was climb up until we got to the guard and then just switch around so we were climbing on the back of the ladder, behind the guard. Then all we had to do was climb all the way up and hop off at the windowsill.  
  
That windowsill was our place, and no one else could have it. None of the teachers made us leave, mostly because they didn't care whatever the heck us kids were doing out here. The other children didn't dare even touch the windowsill, for fear that we'd get back at them. Now, if you just looked at 15 and me for the first time, you'd think we were just harmless kids. A little creepy looking maybe, but harmless.  
  
I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.  
  
How should I explain this?… Let's just say that if the whole school was a jungle and all the kids were animals, the popular people would be peacocks, the rejects would be slugs, (Whee! slugs!) and 15 and I would be the black widows.  
  
Just tiny, insignificant, harmless looking things that sat in their windowsill web and usually kept to themselves. But never prod at a black widow.  
  
If you ever did something nasty to us, we'd come back at you with ten times as much venom. Spider venom. We would find some way to get revenge, but never violently. It would be sneakily, done in some way that the victim would never forget.  
  
For example, one time in third grade a girl named Mary Marinson told me that the pet lizard I had brought to skool was the ugliest thing alive. At recess that day, 15 and I got together and slipped the lizard down the back of Mary's frilly little pink dress.  
  
It was a day to remember.  
  
Suddenly, 15 nudged me, interrupting my thoughts. "There, that's him," he said. "Right there." He pointed a finger out toward the playground, directly to the back chain-link fence where a green kid seemed to be arguing heavily with a boy named Dib.  
  
"Yeah, that's Zim. I saw him for the first time yesterday after skool, getting chased by Dib." said 15.  
  
I squinted the tiniest bit. "Why, what's Dib got against Zim?" I asked.  
  
15 smiled ever so slightly, never taking his eyes off Zim or Dib. "Well… Dib thinks Zim's an alien," he said.  
  
I glanced at 15 out of the corner of my eye, then looked back to Zim and Dib (still arguing).  
  
"Really?" I asked.  
  
"Really. Man, that Dib's so insane!" said 15, leaning back against the window and chuckling lightly.  
  
I looked up at the grayish sky and laughed as well. I had to agree with 15, Dib was pretty crazy, but maybe that was why I liked him.  
  
Crazy Dib, the paranormal junkie. That was how everyone knew him.  
  
I've gotta confess, though, my one true weakness is anything fantasy, so I love the paranormal as well. Not _nearly_ as much as Dib, however. Dragons and magic were more my thing.  
  
Dib was always fun to chat with, though. If you gave him the chance, he would go on and on about the theories of the unknown.  
  
Some people called it annoying. I called it amazing.  
  
But I never told anyone that I thought Dib was kinda cool. Think about it, if you were even seen with the insane kid for two days in a row, people would start to wonder if you were insane. And true insanity is not a good quality in junior high.  
  
So, even though I somewhat wanted to, I never got to learn what Dib was really like. Never got to be a friend to the smart, sad-looking boy who sat alone, ate lunch alone, wondered the mysteries of the universe _alone._ Never got to learn what he really knew…  
  
So there he was. Dib, the insane one, cornering the new kid and yelling at him, inches away from his little green face.  
  
"Hm…" I said, "I think _now_ would be a good time to send out the welcome wagon, don't you?" I said to 15, with a sly grin.  
  
"Oh yeah… I almost forget about that." 15 said. "After you." He pointed his hand out towards the fire escape ladder, grinning the whole time.  
  
I nodded slightly, I'm not sure if 15 even noticed, and grabbed the edge of the ladder. With one thrust, I swung onto the ladder and grabbed hold of the edges. My feet scrambled for a second, then found their way to the edge of the ladder as well. I slid down the ladder, all the way down over the metal guard, landing with a thump.  
  
15 reached his head over the edge of the windowsill. "You're really graceful, did 'cha know? You should take ballet," he said, oozing with sarcasm. He was still grinning as he slid down, much more gracefully than I had. Show off.  
  
I smirked at him. "I did, when I was about seven"  
  
"What happened?" 15 asked.  
  
"Um, they kicked me out foe attempting to tie-die my rental tutu, since I had just learned how, and for -- well, having no balance or coordination whatsoever." I said, then I smirked again.  
  
"I kinda figured that, Klutzy. C'mon, looks like Dib's about to eat Zim." 15 said.  
  
I followed close behind 15's quick pace, and looked over at the battling Dib and Zim. When we got right next to them, I poked Dib in the back. "Hey Dib, what's up?" I asked.  
  
Dib glanced at us then immediately turned back to Zim, not really caring that we were there. "Not now, Rem, I--"  
  
Suddenly Dib's eyes snapped open as wide as they would go, and he whirled around to face us.  
  
"15!! Oh, um… Rem, 15, h-hi." Dib smiled at 15 nervously, then glanced at me and gave me one of those "what the heck are you doing?!?" looks, then instantly went back to grinning at 15 uneasily.  
  
"Wha- what's up?" Dib asked to me mostly, glancing over to 15 at regular intervals.  
  
"Ah, nothing'," 15 answered "But what's up with you Dib, you look kind of nervous." 15 grinned at Dib, knowing exactly why Dib was so jittery around him.  
  
I jabbed 15 in the ribs. "Cut it out 15," I muttered. "Dib, you don't still think that 15's a vampire, do you?" I said to Dib  
  
"Of course he is! Just look at his horrible fangs!!" Dib squealed, pointing at 15's grin (which grew wider.)  
  
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, Dib! Those are natural teeth that just grew in over his canines! Get over it! Honestly, sometimes you -- Hey where're YOU going?"  
  
I had noticed out of the corner of my eye that Zim was slowly making his way away from us while Dib was distracted my 15's pointy teeth.  
  
"I'm Rem, and that's 15..." Zim stopped in his tracks and whirled around, looking me directly in the eyes. That strong gaze surprised me, it was so forceful. He squinted slightly, obviously sizing me up.  
  
"Well, um, I guess you already met Dib…" I stammered.  
  
Zim's eyes softened slightly, and one of his patented false grins spread across his unusually green face.  
  
"Ah yes, the Dib." Said Zim. "I'm afraid I have met him…"  
  
"Well, if ya want us to show ya around --" I began, but was suddenly cut off by Zim.  
  
"Your feeble attempt at communication is flattering, however I am quite capable at navigating this "skool" on my own. Seeya!" he said. With a flick of the wrist, he whirled around and marched off.  
  
"Oh. Well, if you ever just… y'know… want to talk, I'm up in the abandoned windowsill pat the fire escape. Stop by sometime."  
  
Zim slowed down his pace slightly, then stopped. He turned his head and glanced at me over his shoulder. "Perhaps… I'll do that someday Rem. Perhaps so." He turned back around, snickering slightly, a look of… superiority on his face. As he walked off, I tilted my head slightly, wondering about this utter stranger.  
  
Suddenly, Dib practically jumped on me. "Do you have any IDEA what you just did?!? I KNOW that look he just gave you! He's planning something now, thanks to you! GAAH, We're all doomed!"  
  
Dib ran off in the direction that Zim walked away, and I was left standing there in disbelieving silence with 15.  
  


~*~

  
  
"What were you thinking?!?" 15 hissed at me as we walked to class together. "You just _invited_ him to our windowsill?"  
  
"Please, 15, you don't think Zim's an alien too, do you? And besides, I didn't really _invite_ him, I just --"  
  
"That windowsill is ours Rem! You start inviting total freakos, and pretty soon the whole place is CRAWLING with creepies!" 15 yelled at me, causing much of the students in the crowded hallway to glance over at us oddly.  
  
"Jeez, c'mon 15 I was just -- Tsk, I don't know!"  
  
"Just WHAT Rem, Just WHAT?!? 15 screamed at me.  
  
"I…" I saw my classroom door out of the corner of my eye and I swung toward it. "I've gotta go!" I said hurriedly at 15, rushing through the door as quickly as I could. I closed the door swiftly behind me, and peeking out through the tiny window on the door I could see 15 walking away, looking over at the door in disgust.  
  
I turned away from the door just as the bell rang and took my seat. Leaning back in my chair that I had chosen in the far left corner, I watched as my monotone teacher, Mr. Cazorp, got up from his desk and began to drawl out some instructions to the class. I watched the kids get out their math papers and books, watched them scribble away… but I didn't really _see_ any of it.  
  
15 had never gotten so mad at me before. We had little squabbles before, but never like what just happened…  
  
Mr. Cazorp got up from his desk and walked out, instantly sending the class into pandemonium. Kids were talking and walking around, not caring at all about what they were supposed to be doing.  
  
I was still seated, still zoning, when I realized something. I sprung up from my desk and walked a few paces forward. I scrunched down and tapped three times on a tiny, almost unnoticeable dot I had put on the wall, and waited for a reply.  
  
*tap tap tap…* "Rem, that you?" I heard the muffled, faint whispering voice of Zita from the other side of the wall.  
  
"Yeah." I answered. " Hey, where's Zim sitting? He's in your class, right?"  
  
"Yeah, he is. He's sitting right in front of me, unfortunately. Why?"  
  
"Um, no reason. Talk to ya later." I quickly ended out conversation and skooched up a bit, to about where Zim should be sitting. I marked the area with another tiny dot from a pencil I was holding and sauntered back to my seat.  
  
I plopped in my chair, staring at the classroom door where Mr. Cazorp had exited a few minutes before…  
  
*SLAM!*  
  
The classroom door swung open and slammed against the wall, making me jump so hard, I banged my elbow on the edge of the desk. While I was muttering in pain, I noticed that the other kids had zoomed back to their desks before our teacher (off in his own little morbid world in his mind) noticed we were even up.  
  
I shot my hand up into the air the second Mr. Cazorp got to his desk. He looked over to my raised hand and his face drooped, obviously not rejoicing at the fact that he had to actually speak to one of his students.  
  
"Hmm… Yes, Remliss?" He asked in his unmatchable sleepy drawl.  
  
I cringed a bit at the mention of my full name, but I bared with it. I had some conning to do.  
  
"Yeah… Mr. Cazorp? It's kinda hard to see all the way back here, so could I maybe move a bit closer? I don't want to miss any _important_ stuff, you know."  
  
I smiled innocently, trying to be as annoying as possible.  
  
Mr. Cazorp is one of those teachers with the "leave me alone kid, I don't want to deal with you now" attitude. I knew that if I was persistent enough…  
  
"Yes, Remliss. Just as long as you can see." Mr. Cazorp leaned back in his chair and watched me with sleepy eyes.  
  
I quickly rose from my seat and scooped up my backpack, smiling ever so slightly. "Hey, thanks, Mr. Caz, I --"  
  
"Just take your seat, Miss Salvatore."  
  
I stopped talking and plopped in an open desk just three seats ahead of my old one -- Right next to the tiny dot I had put on the wall where Zim was supposed to be.  
  
As I was sitting down, I noticed the kid in back of me scoot back a few inches. I leaned my head back as far as it could go, until it was almost upside down. I looked the kid in the eyes. "Don't worry, I don't bite." I whispered to him, following this with a maniacal grin.  
  
I love being spooky.  
  
I leaned back up to a normal position, and just sat there for a second or two, staring at the wall… Thinking about the boy on the other side. Then I began to wonder: "Why the heck did I move up here? I liked my old seat in the back. It was quiet, and no one bugged me… What's so special about Zim anyway?"  
  
And then -- BOOM! I remembered that look he had given me outside earlier…. There was just something about those eyes… I was never looked at like that before. Never! The way he just pierced -- Pierced! -- right into me…  
  
It was scary.  
  
And yet… I knew there was more to Zim than a powerful glance. And that was exactly why I had moved up next to him on the other side of the wall. I had to know what that _something_ was about Zim.  
  
I leaned onto the wall and put my ear up to it, listening…  
  
I had to know.  
  



	2. Chapter 2:: Found: Squeaky Green Dog

****Chapter 2**  
**(found : Squeaky green dog)****  
  
One month since I moved up next to Zim, and already I knew just a little too much about him…  
  
Just four weeks, just one single month, and already my life changes. Changes for the worst.  
  
If only I could begin to describe the things I've heard behind that wall… it's impossible. Mostly it was the all too common "You're an alien!" "No I'm not!" conversation between Zim and Dib… but once in a while…. Once in a while… _Other_ things. Amazing things. And, get this, _mechanical_ things. Every so often I'd hear something like some sort of machine Zim was operating, or some sort of communication device, always talking to "Girl" or "Gur", I could never tell. The wall muffles things.  
  
At that moment, I was leaning on the wall, once again, listening to Zim announcing something to the class…  
  
"I'm human! Yep! Human, human, human, just look at my neck!"  
  
I reared back, baffled once again. "His… neck? Wha?--"  
  
My thoughts were cut off, interrupted by the nagging ring of the school bell. Shaking my head with now all too frequent confusion, I scooped up my backpack and sauntered out of the classroom.  
  
I didn't go to the front of the school to meet up with 15 like I used to. He still hadn't forgiven me for "abandoning him." Instead, I traveled against the flow of children, heading towards the playground.  
  
Ever since I invited Zim to the windowsill, 15 stopped talking to me. Not only that, but he also stopped going to the windowsill at all. He had other friends now, and I was left with no one… No one but Dib, that is. Suddenly I didn't care what other people thought of me. I didn't care much about anything any more, the main reason my life was so screwed up at the moment. My grades were horrible, my best friend left me, and I was left obsessing over a green kid I didn't even know much about.  
  
Zim.  
  
It was all his fault.  
  
Ever since I started thinking he was less than normal, I was insane now as well. So it was okay to hand out with Dib at that point.  
  
And what a pair WE were. Dib would go on and on about his stories on Zim, while I just became more distant… More obsessed.  
  
It was still so hard to believe that Zim was an alien, despite all the evidence I had. My stupid guess was that he worked for the CIA or FBI or something, and was trying to get information on either Dib's dad or… Ms. Bitters, Zim's teacher. Yes, Ms. Bitters. I also thought that Zim's "skin condition" was the result of some other previous mission.  
  
But it didn't make sense! How could Zim work for the FBI? He was just a kid! Nothing made sense to me anymore. Nothing…  
  
Before I realized it, I was climbing the fire escape ladder to the windowsill. I grabbed the top wrung, pulled myself up until my head was just above the edge, and stopped.  
  
Something was on my windowsill.  
  
Something small…. And green.  
  
I climbed all the way up, cautiously watching the thing lying in the corner, curled up against the dusty glass of the windowpane. It was fast asleep, I noticed that right off the bat, on account of it's slow, deep breathing and it's tiny squeaking noises. I had no idea as to what this thing could be, but me (being the idiot I was) intended to find out.  
  
I crawled up the ladder until I was squatting on the windowsill, not even three feet away from the sleeping animal. At least, I thought it was an animal. I slowly took off my backpack, setting it down as quietly as I could, and got out my ruler. Leaning back as far as I could, just in case this thing was violent, I reached out with the ruler and carefully prodded the green creature. Right when the ruler poked into it's green fur, the thing grunted slightly and then mumbled. It's hind leg twitched, and the thing rolled over, still asleep…  
  
It was a dog.  
  
"Awwwwwww. Hello puppy!" Suddenly I was completely drained of any fear I previosly had of the dog, and was feeling quite… bubbly. I loved dogs. ^_^  
  
The green dog sat up quite abruptly, and let out a high-pitched squeal. I had no idea dogs could even hit that high a note! It bounced to it's feet and lunged at me, almost tossing me off the windowsill, and giving me the most painful hug I had ever had in my life.  
  
It clung there for a few moments, before finally letting me go and rambling over to the corner of the windowsill it was sleeping in. It picked up a paper I hadn't seen there before and unfolded it before handing it to me. This was one talented pooch.  
  
I held the piece of paper into the sunlight, and discovered it to be a note:  
  
Rem-   
You don't know me but I know you. This is Gir, my dog. Please take care of him since I can't right now.  
P.S. he REALLY likes Mexican food.  
Good luck. You're gonna need it.  
Signed,  
Mysterious Letter Writer Person.  
  
I stared blankly at the note, not really knowing what to think. Glancing at the dog, which I know knew was named Gir, I thrust the note in my backpack.   
  
"Who cares who wrote it, I GOT A DOGGIE!!!" I squealed, giving Gir a hug only slightly less powerful than the one he had just strangled me with. Too bad I didn't know how much trouble that dog really was.  
  


~*~

  
  
*plop*  
  
"Here you go, Gir! This is your new home!"  
  
Gir looked around at the interior of my house, with a blank expression on his face. I had just carried him a whole mile from skool, with him squirming the whole way. Now he was plopped down on the gray carpet, seemingly fascinated with his new surroundings. It was hard to tell what he really was thinking, however, just looking at that expressionless face.  
  
"Ooooooooooooooo!!!" The dog squealed. Unexpectedly, Gir leaped up and ran upstairs, straight to my room. His little feet were squeaking furiously as he bounded up the stairs, squealing all the while.  
  
"No! Gir! Bad dog! Stay!" I yelled up the stairs, already sprinting up after him. I slid to a halt at my door to find Gir lying on my bean bag chair, with my headphones over his ears.  
He was also thumbing through my drawing folder.  
I stood at the doorway in disbelief. How could this… _dog_ be looking at my pictures? Is he listening to my CDs?…  
  
"Gir, how did you…" I mumbled at the dog, trailing off into silence. Gir just sat there smiling innocently at me.  
  
"Ooookay. Right then." I turned around, closing the door of my room behind me. I stood leaning on my door for quite a while, wondering at the intelligence of Gir. Surely he's not a normal dog. Normal dogs don't listen to CDs. Or do they?…Once again, my whole look on life was turned upside-down.  
  
"Remliss? What was all that noise?" I heard my mom call from downstairs. "Oh my gosh mom, you HAVE to see this!" I vaulted down the stairs, nearly ramming into my mom in the living room.  
  
"Okay, I was on my windowsill, and I got up there and there was a DOG up there mom! A DOG! And it had this note, too!" I dashed over to my backpack lying next to the door where I had left it, and pulled out the note Gir gave me when I found him. I bounced over to mom, handing her note and almost vibrating with excitement.  
  
"We ALWAYS wanted a dog, bet we could never afford one, and now it like came from HEAVEN! Can we keep it? We HAVE to keep it! Wanna come see him? He's in my room!" I raced up the stairs, my mom following behind. (but not nearly as fast)  
  
I pulled open the door, to reveal Gir, still on my bean bag chair but fast asleep. The headphones were on the ground, and the art folder was clutched in Gir's fuzzy black paws.  
  
My mom was still standing in the doorway while I walked over to Gir and picked him up. He dropped the folder and, still fast asleep, grabbed onto me instead. "So pleeeeeeeease can I keep him?" I begged to my mom, putting on the best puppy-dog face I could muster.  
  
"Well," my mom sighed. "I suppose so. But you're taking care of it. I'm not going to have anything to do with that… thing."  
  
"Aw, he's not a thing. He's my little Gir-Gir!" (The cuteness is just sickening, isn't it?)  
  
"Alright… I'll put an ad for him in the paper, though. Just in case."  
  
"Okay mom!" I called to her as she exited the room. I had nothing to worry about. No one would claim him. I was sure of it.  
  
Just as I heard mom walking down the stairs, I closed the door and set Gir down in the middle of the floor. The second he touched ground, he sprung right up, like he wasn't even asleep at all. He ambled over to the bean bag chair, picked up the art folder and plopped down. He peeked over the top of the folder at me, and smiled. Opening his odd green mouth, he squealed:  
  
"Meooooooow!"  
  


~*~

  
  
Okay, time for a scene I didn't witness, but I found out about later! And *gasp* it's in 3rd person point of view! Don't get scared now, kids!  
  
Rem lay in her bed, fast asleep, while the SIR unit known as Gir sat comfortably in a bean bag chair, watching the girl slumber. It was softly humming some unrecognizable tune, and an odd one at that.  
  
Suddenly, a mechanical beeping interrupted the dog's humming. Gir snapped to attention and unzipped his doggy disguise, to reveal a tiny robot with a stupid grin on his metallic face.  
  
The light beeping stopped abruptly as a long metallic communication device stretched out from a compartment in the robot's head. On the device's softly glowing screen was a smug-looking little Irken with gleaming faceted crimson eyes, both squinted ever so slightly.  
  
"Gir! Are you in the Dib friend's house yet?" The Irken named Zim said quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping girl.  
  
"Ooh! Hi master!!! Yep, she's is sleepin' riiiiiiight there!" Gir whispered a little too loudly, pointing the communication device over towards Rem. "Do I get my taquitos now?" squealed Gir, bouncing with enthusiasm.  
  
"No, not quite yet, Gir. But soon! Oh so soon will you have your taquitos! Just -- pay attention, Gir! -- Just one more thing I need you to do for me…"  
  
Another device stretched out of Gir's head, completely different from the communication device. It was long and thin, and had a tiny disk attached to the end. Unexpectedly, tiny beams of crimson and silver light emitted from this disk, and an object slowly began to form in the light's midst. As the object came into focus, the light got dimmer, until a solid, very real Irken Pak was hovering in the air, a few inches below the disk.  
  
"Whoo, that was fun! Let's do dat again!" squealed Gir, trying as hard as he could to remain quiet.  
  
"No. Right now, I need you to listen very very very very very very VERY carefully, Gir. I need you to give this Pack to Rem. It is…" The Irken smirked "A gift for her. Yes, a gift for our little friend Rem…"  
  


~*~

  
  
The next morning, I awoke to find Gir sitting at the foot of my bed, bouncing up and down, holding a paper-wrapped object high above his head. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, squinting slightly at what Gir was holding. After gazing in an early-morning stupor at this thing for a few moments, I realized (much to my sheer horror) that it's wasn't just any paper that the thing was messily wrapped in but it was, without a doubt….  
  
"MY DRAWINGS!!!!! OH MY GOD, YOU TORE UP MY DRAWINGS!!!!! NOOOOOOOO, HOW COULD YOU?!? SOME OF MY FAVORITES ARE IN THERE!!!" I was screaming at Gir, who was still holding the thing in the air but had stopped bouncing.  
  
"AUGH! GIVE ME THAT!" I grabbed the doodle-wrapped catastrophe out of Gir's hands, and was stopped in my tirade only when I realized how heavy the thing was. I slouched under it's weight, wondering what on earth it could be. Probably a rock, judging by how odd Gir was. Seemed like something he'd do. Wrap up a rock, I mean.  
  
"Ugh, what did you do?" I mumbled to Gir, holding up a piece of white paper Gir had scribbled on with paint and taped to the "package". I set it down carefully on the edge of my bed, since the paint was still slightly damp, and worked on slowly taking the wrinkled pieces of tape off the paper as carefully as I could, trying not to rip the paper. It didn't really make any difference, however, as the pages were already torn and wrinkled.  
  
"So much for saving THESE pictures… Wait, did you…" I picked up the 'painting' Gir had done "Did you walk across this in green paint? Jeez, Gir, you're such a pain…"  
  
I continued opening the thing Gir had wrapped up, until I lifted off one of the crumpled pages to reveal what the thing was.  
  
It wasn't a rock, I'll tell you that.  
  
I peeled off the rest of the paper, holding the thing in my hands. It was an oval shaped metal thing, flat on one side, so it looked like some kind of huge beetle when I set it down on the bed. The front portion of it was flat as well, and a magenta color for about three inches down, and the rest was a cool gray silver. It seemed to have wire trails going down the length of it. A lime green oval was on the top of it, with a tiny, lighter lime green square above that. I held it in my hands, still wondering what it was.  
  
Somehow… it looked kind of familiar.  
  
I turned it over, feeling the intricate grooves and cuts in it, marveling at how smooth the metal was. On the flat side of it were two spikes, one a few inches above the other one. The spikes were quite sharp, and I took care to avoid their points with my finger tips.  
  
"What the heck is this?" I mumbled, half to Gir and half to myself.  
  
Gir scampered forward, shoving the gadget like thing towards me, making pathetic whining noises while doing so.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll take it! Yes, thank you, just get off me!" Gir made a squeak and bounced off the bed, grabbing the damp picture he made for me on the way down. I watched him hit the floor, and stared at my room in disbelief.  
  
"Oh… My… God… GIR!!!"  
  
The whole floor of the room was splattered with paint. Purple, green, red, black, gray, and blue spread across the carpet everywhere. Sprinkled in among all the huge blobs of color…  
  
Green paw prints.  
  


~*~

  
  
Cleaning up all the paint out of my carpet took me the whole morning and afternoon, lucky for me it was Saturday. I sat in my backyard, paint on my clothes and staining my hands, watching the sun go down while Gir ran through the bushes chasing birds. The entire day while I scrubbed my carpet, I couldn't stop thinking about the thing Gir had given me, and it was still on my mind as I sat in the grass.  
  
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get myself to believe that it was some part of a machine, or toy or something. It was odd, how I was so obsessed over this hunk of metal. I didn't know what it was, where it came from, who made it, or anything about it at all.  
  
The odd thing was, I didn't care. Usually I get all suspicious over stuff like this. I guess I get that trait from hanging out with Dib. But with this, I just wanted to look at it. To feel it's smoothness again, it's patterns.  
  
I was addicted to a hunk of metal.  
  
Like a smoker needs cigarettes, or a junkie needs drugs, I needed to be looking at this thing, just be in the same room as it. It was just _indescribableM_.  
  
I got up from the grass and paced over to the sliding screen door, going inside as quickly as I could without really going too fast. Gir raced in behind me, just before I closed the screen. As I walked across the living room, I quickened my pace with every step. When I got to the stairs, I was practically running.  
  
I slowed down as I reached my room, so that I wouldn't collide with the door. I swung it open, and picked up the metal gadget, clutching it in my hands as I sat down on my bed. Running my fingers over the wire trails once again, I smiled. I had no idea why I was smiling, but it just seemed right at the moment.  
  
Outside, the sun had already set, and the crickets were chirping their little crickety hearts out. Still passing my fingers over the grooves, I looked out the window. It was a cloudy night, with not a single star in the sky. The full moon wasn't visible at all, since the clouds were so thick. The only clue that there was a moon at all was a soft glow hanging over one of the clouds in a perfect circle. I kicked my shoes off and flopped back in my bed. I closed my eyes, exhausted from the day's work of cleaning the paint out of my carpet. Gir hopped up on my bed, for once not making a sound. As he nestled up next to my legs, I lay there in the dark, listening to the crickets and letting the dark wash over me…  
  
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…  
  
I opened my eyes and shot up in bed, tossing the metal thing away from me as far as I could. (Which wasn't very far, since it was so heavy.) I looked around in a sleepy daze, still wondering what had happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the metal item lying at the foot of my bed.  
  
It was vibrating.  
  
My eyes opened as wide as they could, still not believing that this was really happening. I slowly reached out with my shaking had, touched the object…  
  
It immediately began to vibrate with even more power, pulsing with it's energy. It was vibrating so hard now, I couldn't focus on anything. I couldn't pull my hand away, my eyes shut closed, I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. All I could hear was the buzz of the vibration in my ears, I couldn't even open my eyes anymore…  
  
All of a sudden I wrenched my hand away from the object, finally able to let go. I don't know what would have happened if I kept holding on, but the second I let go…  
  
Pain.  
  
Sheer. Immense. Pain.  
  
Somehow, the object had found it's way to my back. I didn't even see or feel it move the whole time my hand was on it, but suddenly…  
  
It was _burrowing_ into my spine, using the two spikes on its flat side as drills. I could actually feel it pushing through the thin layer of flesh over my vertebrae, could hear my bones being drilled into. I screamed out in agony and horror, tears streaking down my face. I had no idea why no one was coming to help me, somebody save me…  
  
And suddenly, darkness.  
  


~*~

  
  
I slowly opened my eyes, but shut them immediately. The whole room was swimming through my field of vision, and I had the worst migraine I had had in my whole life. I groaned, rolling over…  
  
"AAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed, feeling the sharp pain of the thing on my back pressing into the carpet. I jumped up onto my knees, getting a new wave of nausea at rising so quickly. I stood up on wobbly legs, clutching my head and stumbling across my room. I groped for the doorknob, opened the door and staggered over to the bathroom across from my room. The second I got in there, I hunched over the toilet, doing exactly what you think I might be doing hanging over a toilet (x_x eeew…)  
  
I stood up and rinsed out my mouth over the sink, looking at my sad reflection in the mirror. I had dark circles under my eyes, and I looked paler than some white-out correctional fluids I used.   
  
I closed the door behind me for no apparent reason, since my mother was at work and the house was empty. I stared into the mirror once more, this time, wondering if the thing I felt digging into my spine last night was still there. I still felt the pain there, but that was all. It was extremely odd that I couldn't even feel the thing there, considering how heavy it was when I held it. On my back, however… it was like it didn't even exist.  
  
I slowly turned around, wincing from the pain in my backbone. I stopped and stared in the mirror. There, under my t-shirt I was wearing the night before, was a lump where a flat back should have been. Frantically, I pulled up the back of my shirt, grimacing at the sight of what I feared most.  
  
There, budged up right next to my skin, was the metal object, magenta section facing downwards and lime green oval on the top. I pulled on it with my hand, trying to get it off, making frantic noises while doing so. It was no use; the thing was truly bonded with my skin. The only thing I was accomplishing was making my back hurt even more  
  
I slumped down on the tile floor of the bathroom, burying my face in my hands, letting more tears spill into them.  
  
"Awwwww, don't be sad. It makes you look like pretty!" My head shot up and turned immediately to the little green dog sitting in the corner, crouched under the cabinet. Gir. Smiling insanely as usual.  
  
"D-did you… Wha-?" I stuttered, more confused than ever.   
  
""I liiike it." Gir squeaked.  
  
"L-like what?" I asked, somehow accepting the fact that I was having a conversation with my dog. So much weird stuff had happened already, so why not have a dog that talks?  
  
"Your present! D'you like it?" Gir grabbed the collar of my shirt, squealing inches away from my face. "D'YOU LIKE IT?"  
  
"Augh! Get down! What do you mean do I like it? Why, did…Oh my god… YOU DID THIS!" I jumped up, pointing my finger wildly at Gir. "YOU were the one who gave this thing to me! What the hell is it, huh? GET IT OFF!" I was storming in a rage now, pointing at Gir the whole time. Gir was huddled in the corner, not looking nearly as happy as he usually did.  
  
"Aw… I… I thought you'd like it… Master said it was a present… You don't like presents? That is soooooooo sad." Gir sniffled a little, rubbing his huge eyes with his paws.  
  
"…What? Who's 'Master'?" I asked, lowering my hand which was still pointing an accusing finger at Gir.  
  
"Master. He's my master. He told me ta give that to ya." Gir said, pointing to my back.  
  
"Huh? Your… Oh, the person who last had you."   
  
"Yep. I'm gonna go home now. Master has taquitos for me." Gir jumped up, making his way for the closed bathroom door, but I grabbed him just before he jumped for the handle.  
  
"No you don't, you're coming with me…" I opened the bathroom door with one hand, the other clutching the squirming Gir.  
  
I stormed into my room, locking the door behind me. Gir finally managed to wriggle out of my arms, and he bounced over onto my beanbag chair.  
  
"Alright, you little green bastard. Who is this person, your 'Master'?" I was angry again, fuming at Gir. I wanted answers.  
  
"Eh... Um… OOH! OOH! I KNOW! I KNOW! PICK ME! PICK MEEEEE!" Gir shrieked out, bouncing up and down and waving his arm in the air.  
  
"Ugh…" I closed my eyes, rubbing my temple with my two first fingers. "fine, Gir. YES! Just stop yelling! Who is he?"  
  
"Ummmmm…. HE'S GOT ONE 'A THOSE!" Gir squealed, pointing at the thing on my back.  
  
"What? He's got a Pak too? But then what --" I stopped suddenly, realizing what I had just said. I called it a Pak. I knew what it was called… That was odd. I looked down at Gir again, and noticed something…  
  
"Is that… Is that a zipper?" I asked, squatting down next to Gir. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before…" I reached over and gently touched the zipper, realizing that it was actually part of Gir's fuzzy green skin.  
  
"Yep, and lookit what I can do!" Gir squealed, yanking down the zipper and pulling back his face, jumping out of his skin to reveal… a robot. Gir was a robot.  
  
"Ta-da!"  
  
"AUGH! EEW! GET AWAY!" I yelled at him, shaking my hand in his face. "You…" I gasped "YOU BELONG TO ZIM!!"  
  
Gir nodded, still smiling.  
  
"I remember now! Dib said something about Zim having a robot… and all those times in class when Zim was talking to that communicator-thing, I think it was a communicator, IT WAS YOU HE WAS TALKING TO! C'mon, put that costume back on, we're going to Dib's house." 


	3. Chapter 3:: A Grim Fate

****Chapter 3**  
**(a grim fate)****  
  
I stood on the front porch of Dib's house, contemplating weather or not I should ring the doorbell. I had never been to Dib's house, and for good reason. I was just a little intimidated by his dad, Professor Membrane, this great scientist. I was always a little shy around even remotely famous people, and especially Dib's dad. I tugged on the sleeve of my heavy black sweatshirt, which I had put on in an attempt to cover up any sign that I had a Pak. Squinting slightly, I pushed the doorbell and held my breath, praying with all my might that Dib answered the door instead of his Dad.  
  
*WHAM* The door hit the wall as it was slammed open.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
I stood, staring dumbfounded at the girl standing in the doorway in front of me. She was a few inches shorter than me, had dark purple hair, and was wearing the meanest scowl I had seen in a good long time.   
  
"I… Um… Is Dib home?" I asked, still staring at the girl.  
  
"Upstairs." She said, leaving me at the doorway and flopping on a nearby couch, grabbing her Game Slave 2 and furiously playing away.  
  
"Um… thanks… I guess." I mumbled, scooping up Gir and walking inside, closing the door behind me and looking for the stairs. Once I caught sight of them, I scampered across the room and bounded up, looking around frantically for Dib. Upstairs, all I found was a hallway of closed doors, one of which had Vampire Piggy Hunter II pictures all over it, and the other which had a UFO poster. I guessed that the UFO one was Dib's, so I knocked on the door lightly.  
  
"Um… Dib?"  
  
The door swung open, Dib standing there, looking confused. Suddenly he smiled. "Rem! Hi! Um… Hi!"  
  
"Who was that girl downstairs?"   
  
"Oh, Gaz? She's my sister. She can be a little intimidating at times, but really she's--"  
  
"Oh, cut the small talk, Dib, I need your help." I shoved past him, closing the door behind me and locking it. I was still holding Gir under one arm, but he wasn't squirming anymore.  
  
"Erm… help?" He asked, looking quite startled after my outburst. "With what? Did… YOU HAVE ZIM'S ROBOT!"  
  
"Duh. That's what I need help with, sort of." I put Gir down on Dib's floor, taking off his make-shift leash which I had made out of a jump-rope. Gir immediately unzipped his costume and jumped out, running laps around Dib's room.  
  
"You know that backpack thing Zim has?" I asked Dib.  
  
He squinted slightly. "Yes…"  
  
"Well, look at this." I said, lifting up the back of my shirt and sweatshirt, revealing the Pak connected to my spine.  
  
Dib gasped. "Y-You're an alien like Zim! You're one of them! AUUUUGH!" Dib tackled me, pinning me down on the ground, thrashing at me like crazy.   
  
"AAH! NO, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! DIB, GET OFF! I'm not an alien, okay?" I yelled at him, tossing him off of me and panting. "I'm not an alien! I found Gir on my windowsill and took him home, and he gave me this Pak thing. It… It attached to my spine and I can't get it off. Gir said it was a 'present from Master'. And I….. I just need help….."  
  
Dib stood there, with an odd look on his face. A look that was a combination of confusion, anger, and sadness.   
  
Suddenly, Dib spoke up: "Zim… uses that 'Pak' think as some kind of utility gadget… I've seen him use it before, he's even used it on _me_ once or twice."  
  
"Well, what does it do?"  
  
"I've seen him use it as like some kind of transportation before, looks like spider legs, and as a communication device, among other things. There was this whole organ thing a while back… Man, were YOU lucky to have been sick that week!"  
  
"Oh." I said, slightly relieved, albeit confused about the organs. I was worried at one point that the Pak might have been some kind of explosive. "But then why did he give ME one?"  
  
Dib shrugged. "Don't ask ME how his twisted little mind works. Here, let me see it again."  
  
I lifted up the back of my shirt again, and Dib poked at the Pak with a screwdriver that was conveniently lying next to his bed.  
  
"Maybe I can just… Tweak this here…"  
  
"OW! Damn, dude, seriously!"  
  
"Sorry, I'm sorry!" Dib said, and then sighed "Well, that thing's not coming off anytime soon. I have no idea why Zim did that to you. It's odd though…"  
  
"What's odd?"  
  
"Well, Zim's Pak looks like this…" Dib grabbed a piece of paper and drew a quick sketch of Zim's Pak, and then handed it to me.  
  
"Yeah, I know, he never takes the thing off." I said. "Now I know why…"  
  
"Anyway, Zim's Pak looks like that, but yours is almost completely different. I've seen other Paks before, one on this alien named Tak, and it was almost identical to Zim's… But yours….. Wow." Dib was getting excited again. I could tell that I was going to be there a while.  
  
"Wait, you said it attached itself to your spine? Ouch. Well, I'm almost sure that Zim's is attached to his spine too, so that just might mean something…"  
  
"What? What something?" I asked.  
  
No reply.  
  
Too late now. I had lost him. Dib was off in "Paranormal Happy Land" and there was no bringing him back at this point. The only thing I could do now was wait.  
  
"Here, follow me…" Dib grabbed my hand and dragged me across his room, Gir running around my ankles, in his doggy suit again. Dib let go of my arm to open the door, fumbling with the knob.  
  
"Um, Dib… I locked it."  
  
"Oh, oh yeah. Heh…" Dib unlocked the door and swung it open, racing down the stairs. I was trying as hard as I could to just keep up with the guy.   
  
Dib turned a sharp corner and swung into a room I hadn't noticed before. I ran in after him, and found myself staring at who else but Professor Membrane.  
  
"Dad! I need to use your lab!" Dib was saying to Prof. Membrane, looking as enthusiastic as ever. Professor Membrane sighed and glanced over to his son, then turned back to whatever experiment he was working on.  
  
"As long as you don't explode any more atomic gene splicing plasma rays, it's fine with me."  
  
"Dad, that was almost a year ago…"  
  
"And I only hope that it remains a year ago, and not something that may happen this very afternoon!" the Professor said, whirling around on his swivel chair, holding up a metal key ring with great flourish.  
  
"Have you any _idea_ how unstable those plasma rays are, son?! Just the thought of my cold fusion powered DNA producing plasma ray EXPLODING in a fiery inferno is enough to terrify ANY man!" I gulped, still staring at the Professor.   
  
"Here you go, son! Make sure you don't kill yourself OR your little friend!" Professor Membrane said, handing the keys to Dib.  
  
"Alright, thanks dad! C'mon Rem! So much to do, so little time!" Dib yelled over to me, already out of the room and rushing down the hall. Enthusiasm seemed to run in this family.  
  
I still stood there, slightly shocked that Dib could get this energetic. Professor Membrane, sitting near me, sighed.  
  
"My poor, insane son."  
  


~*~

  
  
"This place is… huge!" I gasped, looking around in wonder at Professor Membrane's lab.   
  
"Yep. What were you expecting, some store-bought chemistry experiments set up in our garage?" Dib laughed at his little "joke", but I wasn't paying attention.  
  
"Now, where is it?… AHA! Dad's old DNA analyzer! C'mere Rem!"  
  
I reluctantly walked over to Dib, not quite sure what he was going to do with the painful-looking device. Before I could stop him, he grabbed my hand and thrust it into a slot. "You should feel a little prick… That's all…  
  
Just like he said, I felt a tiny, quick jab, right in the center of my palm. I pulled my hand out, rubbing it slightly, frowning that Dib hadn't really warned me about what he was going to do.  
  
"What was THAT all about?" I asked him, still rubbing the tiny dot in the middle of my hand where the device had poked me.  
  
"Oh. This thing's a DNA analyzer. It just took a tiny sample of your blood and it's analyzing the traces of DNA in your blood cells. Now, I'm just doing this to see if my theory is correct…" He trailed off.  
  
"What? What theory? Dib, you have a theory?" I searched his face for any traces of comprehension, but he was just standing there, smiling at the little machine. I frowned again. Now didn't seem like the time anyone should be smiling, especially not Dib.  
  
The device beeped slightly, and Dib smiled even wider. He rushed over to one of the many huge computers lining the laboratory, and plugged the DNA analyzer into a slot, using a wire he pulled out of the back of the device.  
  
Instantly, the huge screen attached to the computer flickered on, showing something that looked remotely like what we looked at under the microscope in science, but with numbers and random letters streaming along the sides. I looked again at the part of the screen that showed the microscope-stuff. It was pretty nasty, compared to the little freeze-dried, dead amoebas we looked at in science. The screen showed several large clumps of spaghetti-ish stuff twisted together and stuck inside of what looked like bubbles inside of bubbles, with various other blobs sprinkled in here and there. I stared at the spaghetti things, and I realized that they were clumps of DNA. However, they didn't seem to be acting very… DNA-ish. They were twitching, and seemed to be crumbling apart before my very eyes. After a while, I realized that the other blobs that were sprinkled in among the bubble-like things were pushing through the bubbles, attacking the DNA. They were causing large portions of the DNA stuff to fall off, and those parts were replaced by what looked like the parts that fell off, only somewhat blurry and greenish.  
  
As I watched this miracle of science taking place on the screen, Dib spoke up, interrupting my thoughts. "See, now those clumps of long things are your DNA, and they're surrounded in your blood cells, inside the nucleolus of the cell's nucleus," he pointed at the screen, indicating the outer bubble surrounding the DNA as the cell and the inner bubble as the nucleus. "Those… blobby things are some kind of highly advanced disease, which came from that Pak. They're attacking your DNA and replacing whatever it attacks with some kind of foreign DNA."  
  
"Oh," I replied, understanding what Dib said, but still in denial. "but wouldn't that mean that… That I'm going to…"  
  
"Yep. Change. I'm still not certain WHAT exactly you're changing into, because it's too early on to tell, but my guess is--"  
  
"I get it now…" I interrupted. "I'm turning into what Zim is! Oh God….. I'm….. I'm turning into an alien."  
  
"Yep," Dib said, still smiling. I felt like I could strangle him. Who smiles at times like this? Who?   
  
"And at the rate those blob things are destroying your DNA, I should be able to tell for sure in….. oh, two weeks."  
  
"Two weeks?!? That long? Isn't there some way that you could- Why the heck are you smiling like that?!?" I shouted at Dib, who was smiling wider than ever.   
  
"Don't you get it?" he asked excitedly. "Zim's trying to turn you into an alien!"  
  
"Aaaaand?…"   
  
"Well, obviously, He's trying to, I don't know, make another minion out of you or something. BUT, once you're Irken, and you can use that Pak, you can help me battle Zim!!!"  
  
He stood there, smiling at me, even though I still didn't get it. "And… how would I do that?" I asked, trying not to sound as stupid as I felt.  
  
"Aw, c'mon Rem! Remember what I told you? Zim uses that Pak like a _utility backpack_!! Once you can figure THAT thing out, we can beat Zim using his own technology! It's genius!" He said, looking like he had already defeated Zim.  
  
"Well… I… No! No Dib, that's where you're wrong! I am NOT going to help you with this little plot you have here!"  
  
"But Rem, we--" "I don't care Dib! There's no 'We' in this little plan of yours!" I was yelling at him, tears now dripping down my cheeks, even though I wasn't sure why. "I'm not helping you… I… I don't want to be an alien…" I fell to my knees on the floor, realizing how toddler-like I was sounding. I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, trying not to pay too much attention to the fact that Dib was still in the room staring at me.  
  
"Rem, I'm… I'm sorry." Dib said, looking both sorry and disappointed. "You… you don't have to help me. But really, I can't help you otherwise. I wish I could, but obviously, there've never been any other cases of this, so there isn't any known cure…" Dib trailed off, now looking me in the eyes. I knew he was right, and I knew I probably should help him, but I wasn't anywhere near ready to actually do that. "I could take you to my dad, but he wouldn't do anything to help you. He doesn't believe in aliens or anything like that. He just wouldn't believe us…"  
  
He trailed off, and put his arm on my shoulder in a feeble attempt to comfort me. I swatted it off, and rose to my feet once again. "Fine. Then I have no reason to be here. I'm going to go home and figure this thing out on my own." Hot tears were burning in my eyes again. "Er… Thanks for the information Dib. I guess I'll see ya' around," I said, even though I was furiously mad at Dib. I wasn't about to let him know that, however. I stormed away towards the exit and grabbed Gir, whom I had tethered to a nearby machine with the jump rope I was using as a leash. I hurried out the door of the lab and across the living room, where Gaz, the girl I had met when I first came to Dib's house, was still playing her GS2 on the couch.   
  
I was full-on sobbing now, running across the room and out the door, closely followed by Dib, who called after me: "Wait! Rem! I'm sorry! I really am!" He trailed off, watching me run down his walkway away from his house. Gaz stopped playing for a moment and glanced over to Dib.  
  
"You have the WEIRDEST friends…" 


	4. Chapter 4:: Another Ally

I wrote most of this chapter while eating my lunch at my desk. I smell like peanut butter.  
  


~*~

  
  
****Chapter 4**  
**(Another Ally)****  
  
I sighed, rested my head on my hand and looked down at Gir, once again on my beanbag chair. He seemed to have claimed the thing for himself, and now wasn't even letting me sit on it without his permission. At the moment, the robot was out of his disguise and staring unblinkingly at me, which I found just a little unsettling. I flopped back down on my bed, at a complete loss of ideas. I was feeling slightly sick at the moment, either just from the thought that my DNA was being destroyed at that very moment, or from the Pak's affects taking place. It was hard to tell.  
  
The reason I was lying on my bed, not really doing anything productive was because I was contemplating an idea I had. A stupid idea, sure, but an idea none the less.   
  
My idea, as idiotic as it was, was to go to Zim's house and act as pathetic as I could until he gave me answers. Then, I don't know, escape somehow before he ate me, or whatever he was planning.  
  
Yep. Pretty stupid plan.  
  
But hey, it WAS a plan, and at the moment, it was all I had. So why not go for it?   
  
"Why not?" I jumped out of bed, looking at Gir and talking to him like he lad just asked that question. "Why not? I'll tell ya' why not! It's 'cause I don't know what the hell I'm doing! SURE I could just waltz right in there and demand answers, but who KNOWS if I'd even come out with my HEAD still attached to my neck?! This isn't WORKING Gir! I need HELP!!"  
  
Gir stared up at me, looking like he wasn't sure if I was going to kill him or just yell in incoherent sentences some more.  
  
"I need help…" I repeated. "Help… Dib can't help me. All HE wants to do is use me as some kind of secret weapon. No WAY am I telling mom that all this stuff is happening… I'd just be put in one of them 'Crazy Buckets'… So who's left?… no one…"  
  
No one, that was, except for 15.  
  
I smiled at the little idea that was forming in my head. After all, 15 was only mad at me because he thought I was abandoning him for Zim, right? All I had to do really was show him what Zim did to me and PROVE that Zim really was an alien, and he'd KNOW that I had good reason to stalk Zim! Woo! Genius!  
  
I grinned and practically hopped over to Gir, pulling his dog disguise up over his head and tying the jump rope around his neck once again. "Okay Gir, we're going out."  
  
"Out where? We goin' to masters? He still gots taquitos!"  
  
"Nope, we're going to see my friend 15"  
  
"Ooh….." Gir said, looking awed. "You friends wit' a number? Neato!"  
  
"Erm, yeah. I just need to bring YOU as some evidence."  
  
"Okie Dokie!!"  
  
I lifted Gir up, stowing him under one arm and holding the end of the leash in the other. I walked across my room, out the open door and down the stairs, babbling to Gir about nothing in particular. I was glad my mom was still at work, because if she caught me having semi-intelligent conversations with my dog…  
  
Eh… not good.  
  
Anyway, once I got out the front door, I put Gir down and sauntered along the cement path, trying to look as inconspicuous as I could at the moment. I wasn't really sure why, though. No one else was outside on my block, and none of the neighbors ever really cared what went on anyway. Ah well.  
  
In about five minutes, I was hiking up 15's walkway to his house, praying that he was home. I stepped up to the door, rang the doorbell, and prayed some more that he wouldn't slam the door in my face.  
  
Without warning, the door opened.  
  
"Er… Rem?" said 15, looking confused. Suddenly, his expression turned to anger. "What do you want?"  
  
"I…" I looked at 15, punishing myself in my head for not having planned what I was going to say. "Um… I need help… With stuff…"  
  
15 glanced down at Gir, whom he had just noticed, and looked at me blank-faced. "Stuff?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
15 sighed. "Jeez, just come inside Rem."  
  
I nodded unnoticeably and followed 15 inside the door and down the stairs to his room in the basement. I always loved 15's room. On the walls going down the stairs were various posters of 15's favorite bands and video games. The door to his room was criss-crossed with caution tape, and various signs that made no sense were duct-taped up. I read the largest sign on my way in:  
  
POSTED  
PRIVATE PROPERTY  
Hunting, fishing, trapping or trespassing  
for any purpose is strictly forbidden.   
Violators will be prosecuted.   
  
I smiled ever so slightly on my way in. 15 and I had gotten that sign for 25 cents when we were goofing around at a home improvement store. The very same sign was taped up on the door to my room as well.  
  
The interior of 15's room was almost exactly the same as the last time I visited, except maybe a little messier. The walls were pasted with video game posters, and a GS2 lay on top of a black inflatable chair, which was painted on with white permanent marker. His bed was unmade, and strewn with magazines.  
  
"So…..What is it?" 15 asked me, still looking a little angry.  
  
I sighed and put Gir down. This was turning out to be quite a day. "Well, I know he's probably the last person on earth you want to talk about, but… I've been following Zim and I found some stuff out about him…"  
  
"Oh God, not more stuff about Zim…"  
  
"YES more about Zim. 'Cause this stuff is important! Now just listen, okay? Zim's an alien."  
  
"Augh, You're just as psycho as Dib is!"  
  
"No! Just listen to me, alright? You know that backpack thing that Zim wears?"  
  
"…Yes…"  
  
"Well, look." I pulled up the back of my black sweatshirt, which was getting kind of hot.  
  
15 blinked at the metal Pak on my back, and I could tell from the expression on his face that he didn't believe me.  
  
I pulled the sweatshirt back down and looked15 in the eyes. "I found Zim's robot on the windowsill and it gave me this thing. It kind of… drilled into my spine and now I'm turning into an alien."  
  
I looked deeper into 15's eyes, searching for any sign that he was believing me.  
  
15 frowned and stepped back. Nope. He didn't believe me. "_God_ Rem, what's wrong with you?!? You're doing all this crap just to make me believe you?!? What the hell is this thing anyway?" Before I could stop him, he reached up the back of my sweatshirt and pulled hard on the Pak, trying to yank it off.  
  
"AAAUUUUUUUGGGHHH!!! Damn, 15, STOP!! THAT HURTS!!"  
  
15 finally let go and took several more steps backwards, until he was up against the wall. "Wh- what is that thing?" He whispered, trembling at the same time.  
  
I backed up as well, suddenly scared. Suddenly, the whole reality of what was happening rushed at me, flooding my senses with dread.  
  
"I- it's called a Pak. When I found Zim's robot on the windowsill and took him home, he gave me this thing. The more I was around it… the more it felt like I HAD to be around it. Until….. It just connected with me." I sniffled, and I realized I was crying again.  
  
"Oh," I said. "Zim's robot. I brought him with me…" I paced over to the black inflatable chair where Gir had settled himself and scooped him up.  
  
"This is Gir… Zim's robot." I mumbled, unzipping Gir's costume and pulling back the hood to reveal the smiling robot. Gir jumped out of my arms and scrambled over to 15 and grabbed onto his pant leg.  
  
"Is you da numbah?!?" Gir squeaked.  
  
"Aah! What the hell is this?!?" 15 asked, looking to me frantically while trying to shake Gir off his leg.  
  
I smiled slightly. "That's just Gir."  
  
"Gir?" 15 asked, scrunching up his nose and now tugging frantically at Gir.  
  
"Yep!" Gir shrieked "You smell like potato chips!"  
  
"Gir, sit!" I yelled to Gir, hoping that he would listen to me. Instead, Gir let go of 15's leg and scrambled up onto his bed, bouncing up and down and scattering the magazines everywhere, laughing insanely the whole time.  
  
"He's… a little destructive," I sighed  
  
"A little?" 15 hissed at me. "I know atomic bombs that are less destructive than that thing!"  
  
I shrugged. "So, will you help me?" I asked desperately to15.  
  
"But… Jeez, HOW, Rem? How the heck COULD I help? I don't know anything about aliens or any of that crap! I don't even know--"  
  
"You don't have to." I interrupted 15, looking him in the eyes again. "I just need you to… kind of stay with me. Until I get a plan. That's all that I need right now. That's all."  
  
15's shoulders drooped, and I could see it in his eyes that he _wanted_ to do more, but knew he couldn't. He looked to the ground. "Alright. I'll help."  
  
I nodded, and without saying a word I picked up Gir, zipped up his costume, and walked towards the door. Just as I was reaching for the doorknob, 15 stopped me.  
  
"Wait! I just need to know… what are you going to do about this thing first?"  
  
"Well…" I said. "I'm going to go to Zim's house. I need some answers. If I'm not back in half an hour… go find Dib and tell him. He should know what to do." 


	5. Chapter 5:: House Call

Enter a foggy grave yard, midnight. Mist swirls around the crumbling tombstones, and a lone raven caws in a dead peach tree. Suddenly, the earth starts to crumble around a mossy grave, and the most HOOOORIBLE zombie in all history of zombies arises! Good god! It's Rem! And she's holding a keyboard!!  
  
"Marrrr!! Yes, tremble, mortals, for I have arisen from my eternal sleep to… Wait… If it was eternal, I would still be sleeping… 6_6   
No, I mean, MARRR!!! I have arisen to continue writing my fanfic!  
BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!"  
  
****Chapter 5**  
**(House Call)****  
  
I leaned against the pay phone, fumbling in my pocket for some spare change. So far all I could find were four soda pop-tops, 25 cents, and my lucky car wash token. I reached into my other pocket and looked over to Gir, still tethered to the jump-rope and gnawing on the metal pole of a nearby road sign. I hoped I had the change, since if I didn't, it would mean another three block's walk to get home. My fingers touched metal, and I pulled out two more quarters and a dime. I smiled in relief, plopping the needed change into the coin slot on the phone. I dialed in Dib's phone number, clutching the grubby plastic receiver to my ear. I waited a few moments, then the silence was broken by Gaz's harsh voice.  
  
"Ugh. What?"  
  
"Um… Can I talk to Dib?"  
  
"DIB! PICK UP THE FRIGGIN' PHONE!"  
  
I pulled my head back an inch or so from the receiver, startled by Gaz's sudden outburst. I heard Dib yell something to her from the background, but I couldn't make it out. Unexpectedly, Gaz jammed the phone down onto a table or desk with a loud clunk, followed by a few stomps away from the phone. Gaz growled menacingly.  
  
"Dib… I am on level 24, and I intend to _finish_ this game without any interruptions. Either you get down here NOW and pick up the phone, or I come upstairs and rip out your liver. Choose."  
  
I heard a series of quick steps, lighter than the girl's, but with more speed. Dib picked up the receiver quickly, and sounded slightly out of breath.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Oh, hi Dib. Um, do--"  
  
"I really can't talk long, Rem, I've got some corrosive liquids I'm testing upstairs, and if I leave them alone for too long, they might eat through my desk."  
  
"…Okay… Anyway, do you know where Zim lives?"  
  
"…Zim?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Where he lives?"  
  
"That's what I asked you."  
  
"You're not going to his _house_, are you?"  
  
"No, I'm sending him some gingerbread cookies I made for him. Of _course_ I'm going to his house!"  
  
"That's not… Smart…"  
  
"Well, neither is leaving corrosive liquids lying on your desk. So ha."  
  
"Oh, fine, but if he tries to… _Test_ things on you, it's not my fault."  
  
"Fair enough."  
  
Dib recited Zim's address which I copied onto a scrap if paper I had been holding.  
  
"Still, Rem..." He sighed. "Be careful… You have no idea what Zim is capable of…"  
  
I said goodbye and hung up, sighing slightly. I had a good enough idea of what he was capable of… Just by what he was doing to me gave me clue enough. But still… The way Dib talked about him seemed like he was capable… Capable of…  
  
I gulped back the thoughts that were rushing through my head, trying to clear away the horrible pictures I had created. I glanced at my watch and tugged on Gir's leash, then headed off in the direction of Zim's house. 3:27. That meant I had about two and a half hours before Mom got home. Mom… I wonder what she would think if I told her I was turning into an alien? Quite ironic, when I thought about it, since she was always telling me to "be unique" and "go against the flow."  
  
You couldn't get much more "unique" than I was getting…  
  


~*~

  
  
I walked down the path leading to Zim's not-so-perfectly-rectangular purple front door, staring at his house in awe. It was unlike any house I had ever seen; Standing as a testament at the entrance to the yard was a white sign, reading "I Love Earth." Florescent pink plastic flamingos loomed above me, and ceramic gnomes at tall as I was seemed to watch me with blank faces as I strolled down the path.  
  
Once again, I was standing on an unfamiliar doorstep and staring at the doorbell, my hand inches from pressing it, but unwilling to do so. Gir scratched at the door and whined pathetically, mumbling about taquitoes. With one surge of bravery, my finger finally made it's way to the doorbell. I heard the two-note tone ring through the house, followed by a mechanical whirring.  
  
Suddenly, two extremely abnormal looking people opened the door at once, twitching slightly. They chorused, "Welcome home, son!" I stared at them in confusion for a few moments, then gave them both a slightly closer inspection. Yep. They were robots as well.  
  
A slight movement behind them caught my eye… A silhouette in the background, features masked by the dim light of the inside of the house. The robotic parents wheeled back to their original positions, and I could see the figure clearly now. The dimness of the room's lights still masked his face, so the only thing I could recognize… Were the eyes. And they were giving me the same blood-freezing glance I had received the day I met Zim.  
  
"Rem…"  
  
His voice hissed out the words as carefully as a serpent hissing at it's prey, hypnotizing it to it's demise. I stood there, unblinkingly watching him step closer to me, stepping into the light. By that time, I could see him perfectly, his violet-rimmed pupils locked onto my brown-rimmed ones. He stepped up to the doorway and grinned.  
  
"Yes, I had a feeling you'd come for a visit today. Come inside…"  
  
I obeyed, just as hypnotized as the serpent's prey. He closed the door behind me, and I couldn't help but think of the serpent again. He was luring my into his lair, just as the serpent would do, and I couldn't turn away.  
  
Gir's leash slipped out of my hands, and he scampered off into another room, leaving me alone with Zim. I side-stepped over to a nearby couch and sat down, rigid as a board and as alert as a deer staring into headlights. Coincidentally, just like the deer, I was also having trouble moving. And breathing. Also, blinking. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take before I passed out.  
  
"So, Rem," Zim looked directly at me. "Have a good sleep last night?" He smiled evilly, folding his arms in front of him.  
  
I finally managed to gasp a breath, but the only words I could utter was "…Z… Zim… You…"  
  
"Yes. Me." Zim looked me up and down triumphantly, nodding his head slowly. "So, I _assume_ Gir gave you your little _gift_ last night, am I right?"  
  
I dug my nails into the couch cushions. "You… You horrible…_Thhhing_…" I glowered at him in disgust, my legs still not allowing me to get up.  
  
He scoffed. "_Horrible thing_? Is that the best your pitifully squishy human mind can think up? But at least… Your mind won't be so pitiful after I'm done with it."  
  
"So this thing… This thing you put on my back… I _am_ changing?"  
  
"Of course you are! At least you had the intelligence to figure _that_ much out… Perhaps you won't be a wasted experiment, after all."  
  
"An… _experiment?_ I'm an _experiment_?!"  
  
"Quit questioning my superiority!" He spat out at me, all of a sudden fuming. I leaned back into the couch, startled at his outburst. "Now _listen_, and maybe some of my supreme intelligence will seep into that substandard human skull of yours. You… Are a C.I.L."  
  
"A--?"  
  
"SHUT UP! You… Are a C.I.L. A Created Irken Life-form. Or at least, you will be, once that Pak's mutationisers start to take full affect."  
  
"…Mutationisers?"  
  
"I invented them." Zim stood proudly, looking down at me.  
  
"…That's a really stupid name."  
  
"Grrrrr… Who asked you?! Yes, mutationisers. Normally, when an Irken Pak affixes itself to a new host, all the host will inherit are the past owners traits and memories. Whenever an Irken dies, the Pak is recycled and given to a newly bio-hatched smeet. Once--"  
  
"Wait, what's a smeet?"  
  
"A…" Zim waved his hand trivially in the air, searching for the right translation. "_baby_ Irken. Once the smeet is zapped to life, it has, in essence, the same _spirit_ as the past Irken, only slightly clouded and unknown by the smeet. Yours, however…" Zim reached over for the back of my sweatshirt and I froze at his touch. He grabbed the hem and lifted the back up, revealing the metallic Pak and admiring his handiwork. "_Wonderful_, isn't it? Yours was hand-made by me. Since you already _have_ your own traits and memories, I didn't encrypt any. Instead, I installed a vile of my mutationisers that would seep into your blood stream and make you… _Irken_."  
  
He smiled a wicked Cheshire-cat grin at the word. I looked up to him, aghast. "…_Irken?_ But what will I… Will I look…"  
  
"You'll look Irken, of course. Here."  
  
To my horror, I watched, riveted, as he reached for his hair and removed it, proving it to be nothing but a wig. Instead, he had a pair of obsidian-black antennae, gracefully curved at the tips. He handed the wig to Gir, who was standing at his ankles, slobbering on a taquito. Gir grabbed the wig and hugged it like a five-year-old would hug a teddy bear, staring up at me unblinkingly, that stupid grin pasted on his face once again. I looked back up at Zim and quickly leaned back in shock, lifted up my legs and crawled to the far end of the couch.  
  
His eyes were blood red. They shone like a faceted ruby in the dim light of the room, and were suddenly ten times more terrifying than they were before. In his hands, he held two contacts, each own showing an image of the violet colored eyes he had a moment before. He smiled with a victorious evil, and I knew for a complete, concrete fact right then…  
  
He was not lying. I _was_ going to become what he was.  
  
And there was no stopping it. 


	6. Chapter 6:: Strange Gifts

Woo, here we go again! Yet another chapter. ::bows:: Watch as things get stranger by the second. I have mops in the closet, just in case someone's brain explodes from the trauma.

* * *

**Chapter 6  
(Strange Gifts)**  
  
I quickly stood up from the couch, my eyes locked on Zim's inhuman face. He stood there casually, a faint smile on his lips, observing me as a scientist might observe a prize lab rat. I backed up against the green-print wallpaper, my fingers pressing against the cold plaster. I could feel the Pak pressing against my sore spine, not allowing me to lean all the way back. My breath came shallow, and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. On the inside, I was screaming at myself to run, but my legs didn't seem to want to obey. My hand brushed against the doorknob and grabbed for the cold steel. I swung around so I was facing the door, fumbling with the knob, but it wouldn't turn… Zim stood behind me, still watching me calmly. I turned to him, terror written across my face like a neon sign at midnight.  
  
"Foolish girl…"  
  
My eyes widened as a metallic gleaming spider leg rose up from his Pak behind him, tipped with a small, sharp device pointed right at me. With a tiny puffing sound, the device let loose a small dart, which soared straight to my neck. It jabbed itself into my skin, and I grabbed at the tiny thing, pulling it from my flesh. I looked down at it, a tiny drop of blood on the needle-like metal tip, glistening in the afternoon light that poured from the window next to me. My vision began to cloud, and I leaned against the door, suddenly extremely dizzy. I looked over to Zim, who seemed to be swaying back and forth across the room. My arms went limp and the dart fell out of my hands, my sight quickly going black from the bottom up. I slumped on the ground and closed my eyes, the pain suddenly leaving my body completely…

* * *

As I slowly came back to consciousness, the first thing I noticed was how incredibly sore I was. I was lying on my back, the Pak digging into my already aching spine, and the thing on my chest was poking me in the face. Wait, thing on my chest? My eyes snapped open, and I found myself staring right into the two huge bug-eyes of some tiny purple creature. With all the strength I could muster (Which wasn't very much, since I was so groggy) I tossed the thing off of me and sat up, rubbing my forehead where it had been poking me. I looked around, realizing I was in my own room lying on my bed. I looked over to the creature, my vision still cloudy from the tranquilizer. It was hovering in the corner, looking at me with some confusion on it's fairly blank face. It was almost perfectly round, and had tiny antlers sticking out of purple-pink fur. The four little nubs it had for legs pawed at the air, and it squeaked faintly. It was still staring at me, slightly cock-eyed, when it drifted over.  
  
"Squeak."  
  
"Umm… Hello?"  
  
"Squeak!"  
  
It smiled goofily, floating around my head and finally coming to rest a few feet in front of me.  
  
"Erm… What… Are you?…" I blinked, fairly dazed, and looked back at the creature. It bobbed up and down, hanging in the air and refusing to talk, if it could talk at all.  
  
I bent my head sharply to the right, my neck cracking audibly. I closed my eyes and rubbed my sore neck, taking a deep breath of air. I casually ran my fingers around the collar on my neck, toying with the metal attachment in the front.  
  
Waaait… Collar?  
  
Once again, my eyes snapped open, and I wheeled around to look in a nearby mirror. The collar was smooth and black, a metallic device fixed to the front and blinking a small red light every few seconds.  
  
"Dammit…" I mumbled under my breath, tugging at the collar and searching for a clasp or some way to get it off. Even though the strange black material it was made of stretched and fit around my neck comfortably, it seemed impossible to lift over my head. I moaned somewhat, leaning back against the wall and clutching my sides. I closed my eyes, fighting back the tears that were welling up once more.  
  
"Zim, why? Why me? Why are you _doing_ this?" I mumbled to myself, breathing heavily, a vicious knot in my throat.  
  
"Squeak!"  
  
I opened my eyes slightly, looking over to the pink thing now hovering over by my desk. I looked below it, noticing an oddly placed piece of paper leaning against my computer. I shakily stood up, wandering over to the desk to examine the note, sloppily scrawled in reflective black ink.  
  
_Remliss, meet Minimoose. I've left him to watch over you.  
Try anything to resist me, and prepare to meet your ultimate demise. The collar  
I've affixed to your neck will keep you from running away... I've attached a  
tracking device to it, so don't even try. You'll also come to find that  
its superior Irken technology makes it indestructible. Go ahead and _try_  
to find help... You can't stop the inevitable, pitiful Earthenoid._  
  
I frowned, crumpling up the note in disgust and tossing it pointlessly at the wall across from me, screaming in frustration.  
  
"Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"  
  
I flopped on my bed, Minimoose hovering over to me, a concerned look on its face.  
  
"Squeak?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
The door clicked open, Minimoose quickly scooting underneath my bed. Mom stood in my doorway, smiling slightly.  
  
"Everything okay, hun?"  
  
"Yes, fine…" I lied, staring up at my ceiling. "I just… bumped my elbow on the desk."  
  
"Oh, alright, there's some ice in the freezer if you need it." She smiled again, closing the door behind her as she turned to leave.  
  
I sighed, Minimoose floating out from underneath my bed and looking at me oddly. It seemed to constantly look at me oddly, in fact, its eyes slightly tweaked into looking two directions at once. I stared stupidly at the creature, wondering how it could focus on anything... Suddenly I was hit with a wave of dizzy nausea, my vision fading quickly to black and then back to normal in the course of three seconds. I gagged and stumbled out of my bed, swaggering across my room to the bathroom. My bare feet stumbled across the wood floor of the bathroom and I slid down the wall, head between my knees to try and stop the constant lightheadedness. I coughed, hoping I wouldn't throw up and sliding down the wall sideways until I lay huddled on the cold floor, eyes shut tightly.  
  
"Squeak!"  
  
I opened my eyes and blinked several times, suddenly noticing they were clouded with tears. Painfully raising my head, I gazed at Minimoose as it drifted into the bathroom, it's rendition of a concerned expression on it's face. With a small sound that was neither a grunt nor a moan, I slid my hand towards the door and closed it shut, causing my heavy breathing to echo slightly in the small bathroom.  
  
I coughed again spasmodically, choking on my own saliva. Groaning and rolling over onto my back, eyes shut tight, I sniffled quickly, silent tears running down the sides of my face. I felt Minimoose brush past me, its short fur irritating the skin on my hand where it touched. A quick shiver running down my spine, I pulled my hand away and rubbed it where Minimoose had passed. Somehow, the very presence of that creature disturbed me. I seemed to see it as a constant reminder that Zim had this sudden hold on my life, a constant reminder that I was slowly changing.  
  
I breathed slowly and evenly for a few minutes, trying to clear my head of the constant dizziness it was in. When I was sure I had cleared my thoughts, I slowly crawled to my knees, then rose to my feet. Minimoose drifted over and circled me serenely, like a tiny pink planet orbiting its sun. I stared into the mirror, leaning my weight on both hands that rested on the counter in front of me. My short black hair was tousled, my face was blotchy from crying, my eyes were bloodshot, and I suddenly realized I was looking ever so slightly green. I sniffled again, wondering if it was simply my soon-to-be skin color showing through, or just the tones of an ill face.  
  
"Squeak!" Minimoose circled me again, completely blissful.  
  
I sighed, leaning on my left arm, face resting on my hand, the small magenta planet orbiting it's dying sun...

* * *

And that wraps up part one. Be sure to tune in next episode, same bat time, same bat channel, for Part Two: Results May Vary!  
  
cough What was the title of Part One, you ask? Erm... Heh, I guess I didn't name it. Let's just call it Part One: Strange Beginnings. wanders off to go write up chapter 7 


	7. Chapter 7:: Growing Pain

Initiate part two, Results May Vary! Wow, it only took me two years to update! XD;; Bwahahaha. --Flops in her desk chair with her PJs on to type like mad-- Oh, I bumped the rating up to M finally, since I decided I had to go really into detail with Rem's transformation. Yay. Those of you with a weak stomach... Read anyway, then go vomit.

* * *

**Chapter 7 **

**(Growing Pain)**

_About a week has passed, I think... Not really sure. I haven't been keeping track of the days lately. I think I'm starting to lose hope... School passes every day like a stale breeze through an abandoned room- dry, boring, something you don't really want to endure. I haven't spoken with Zim since I last met with him at his house. Every time I pass him in the halls, he says nothing... Only smiles.It's twisted smile I've come to know, accompanied by his look of condescension and sheer interest. He talks to me occasionally, of course, but in the way a lone scientist would speak to a guinea pig attached to wires and needles, lying in a silent yet blaring room of white..._

"Rem... Feeling alright lately? How is your spine functioning?" I heard the voice resound uncaringly to my right, my eyes shut to try and bar out a throbbing migraine. I glanced sleepily up to Zim from the grimy lunch table I was lying my head upon, mouth slightly agape.

"Ugh..." I grunted, grimacing and closing my eyes again, tying to ignore him. My I _spine_ was fine, more or less, despite irregular aching pains I got every once in a while, probably from the Pak. There were worse things, at that point. I had been sick almost every evening, vomiting up anything I had eaten during the day, mingled with blood and what looked horrifyingly like organ tissue. It felt like I was dying... The skin on my palms had worn away slightly in the same manner a reptile would shed, leaving behind a raw layer of skin, colored green, tinged with pink. My hands, at that moment covered in a pair of soft, black gloves I had purchased at a 99 cent store, lay limp on the table, the left barely clutching a bag of potato chips.

"Ah, good to hear. I trust Minimoose had been a sufficient guardian?"

"...Ugh."

"Excellent!" He slid my untouched lunch tray to the side, sitting down next to me without an invitation. Nonchalantly, he took out a device that slightly resembled a white-out dispenser from one of the pockets that blended ever so flawlessly into the patterns on his odd shirt. I opened my sleepy eyes half way and watched him with mild interest, wondering stupidly what he was going to do with it. Without warning, he clicked a button on the side which produced a small curved needle, then grabbed my hand and pulled off the glove, scraping the needle painfully across my raw, green-tinted skin.

"Augh! Hey, what the heck?" I quickly sat up and yanked my hand away, pressing a finger against the spot he had grazed. I glared over at him as he sat there, completely uncaring, smiling with his familiar look of authority. "What the heck are you _doing_?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Just seeing how you're coming along. Ah, perfect, your squeedly spooch is forming! I am a _genius_..." He smirked to himself as he examined the little device, clicking several buttons and turning a small knob on the side periodically.

"You're _sick,_ that's what you are. I think I'm going to throw up." I spoke the sentence to Zim in the same manner someone would comment "The sky's very blue today", as I lay my head back down on the table.

"Yes, yes, all part of the process. Well, take good care of your head." He patted my hair casually as he rose, strolling off to do whatever it was he did during lunch period. I squeezed my eyes shut again, breathing a sigh of frustration.

_He treats me like I'm a lab rat or something... Freaking... GAH! _I sprung to my feet, shouting after Zim while stupidly waving the bag of chips in the air, scattering them about.

"You moron! You don't own me! I'm not your experiment! Go buy some mice at the pet store, stick _them_ with needles! FREAK!" Breathing heavily, I stood there with my fists clenched, gripping the now half-empty bag of potato chips and glowering at Zim as he walked away, smiling. I blinked several times, lowering the arm that held the chips to my side, realizing that nearly everyone in the cafeteria was staring at me.

"Erm, just kidding! Ahahaha! Nothing... Nothing to see here! I'm normal!" I smiled widely, whirling around to sit back in my seat and duck my head, pretending to be invisible. "Good god, Zim, look at what you're doing to me..." I mumbled to myself as everyone in the lunch room went back to their business, ignoring the crazy girl who sat alone and was recently prone to outbursts. I sighed, closing my eyes again and replaying the week over in my head.

_Monday... Was it Monday? I think it was... That was when my skin started peeling, wasn't it? What a horrible way to wake up... Little flakes of grayish peach all over my blankets..._ A faint chill ran up my back as I rubbed my fingers against my right palm, feeling more tiny shreds of skin peel away. It was an odd, tingling sensation, somewhat like when my skin would peel after getting a sunburn.

_Day after it just got worse, and I had to buy these stupid gloves. Minimoose wouldn't stop following me, either, it's almost--_

"Hey, Rem... you okay?" I heard 15's voice murmur from my left, caring and somewhat frightened at the same time. My thoughts were instantly cut off, and I looked up to face him with my groggy eyes.

"Hm? Oh, I'm okay..." I lied, coughing slightly and sensing the faint taste of blood in the back of my throat. 15 sat down next to me and gazed at my disheveled appearance, frowning in concern.

"Yeah, you look great." he replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "I just.. I just saw Zim leave from over here, what was he doing?" he asked, while glancing over his shoulder to watch Zim march through the cafeteria's swinging double doors.

"Ugh, just his usual scientific cra--...crap... Ohjeezberightback--" I cut off my sentence unexpectedly, a rising feeling of nausea suddenly apparent in the pit of my stomach. Leaping to my feet while clutching my middle, I sprinted out the same double doors Zim had exited through, dashing for the bathroom. The usually bleak school halls seemed to be tilting as I stumbled quickly through them, crashing through the girl's bathroom door at stumble into a toilet stall. I gagged, dropping to my knees over the toilet, eyes already going blurry with tears of pain. Nevertheless, my stomach was empty, causing my insides to grate against each other hopelessly to rid myself whatever was sensed inside me. I was suddenly thrust into a spasm of shaking coughs, each one feeling like it was tearing apart my throat and chest. With one last violent cough, I was hit with the sensation of my insides ripping in half, as I spat out a mass of bloody tissue, about as wide and tall as my palm.

In a dizzy, sickened state, I fleetingly looked at the remnant of myself that lay in the toilet, which caused goosebumps to spread quickly down my arms. It was the color of rotten eggplant and was coated in blood, its color telling me horrifyingly what it must have been... Lung. Immediately after coughing up the tissue, my breathing became raspy and wheezing, coming in short, labored gasps. I felt like a fish without water while I gasped for oxygen that couldn't reach my lungs, since part of my lungs weren't even there.

_Z... Zim..._ I wavered to myself in thought, feeling like I was hyperventilating, which I probably was. I stumbled to my feet and seemed to drift out of the bathroom, once again in search of the very creature that got me into this whole mess. I trundled through the halls as they seemed to shift about me like fog, the voices of the other students muffled through my pain. The trek back through the cafeteria felt as if I was wading through deep water, each breath feeling like it was suffocating me. As I finally stumbled through the same double-doors Zim had exited through, I caught the outline of the green-skinned boy I was trying to reach. His silhouette looked as if he was poking a pigeon on a windowsill. Unable to say anything other than gasps, I stumbled up to him, grabbing at my throat and whimpering while my eyes watered up. I saw the outline of his form turn from the bird he was prodding, as his voice wavered through my weakened hearing. _"Damnit..."_ With that, I felt his gloved hand clasp firmly around my arm, tugging me quickly in the opposite direction I had come from. Suddenly, darkness.

As I slowly awoke, I noticed that my surroundings weren't much brighter on the outside of my eyelids than it was on the inside. Once my vision adjusted, I noticed I was in a dark room, the only light faint and deep purple, coming from a source that I couldn't see. Directly in front of me, hundreds of wires and cables hung tangled together, some of them thicker than my arm. They seemed familiar, somehow... Just then, I noticed that I was laying down. Attempting to sit up only caused a dull pain to shoot through my chest, so I remained flat on whatever I was laying on top of. I stared idly at what I then knew to the ceiling to one of Zim's rooms, feeling surprisingly indifferent at the odd change of scenery. I could remember everything fine, up to the point that I blacked out. Obviously, Zim had taken me back to his house, to do whatever next, I couldn't imagine. I sighed a slow, small breath, my eyes fixed on one cable in particular for no reason at all.

_Oh... Wait. I can breathe._ I noted the realization with little surprise, taking a second, grateful breath of air. Somehow, Zim must have repaired my lungs, although not quite flawlessly, it seemed. My chest felt as if it had been cut in half, then burnt back together with a chunk of splintering wood. Despite the pain, I could breathe fine. After several moments of cable-staring and oxygen-processing, I realized that I was actually breathing far less than what used to be normal for me. Oddly enough, I didn't feel lightheaded. It actually felt as if my grogginess was steadily clearing. Just as I was wondering over this strange quirk, a blur of pinkish purple floated into my field of vision. It was Minimoose again.

"Squeek!"

"Gghhhhgh..."

I frowned sleepily at my unimpressive response, disappointed that I couldn't even manage an expression of surprise. Sighing to myself, I glanced to the side, noticing that I was actually laying on a tilted, padded table of sorts.

"Ahh, Rem. You're alive." I looked up, my eyes meeting the alien figure of Zim. "Once again, I have proven my _genius_." The alien grinned wildly, clenching his fists in victory of whatever it was he has done.

"Hmh?" was all I could groggily mumble, raising an eyebrow at Zim's usual enthusiasm.

"Ohh, I just saved your silly little monkey-hide from sheer extinction. Your superior lungs were forming, much quicker than they should have. They were trying to take over those pathetic air-bags you had before, I had to fix that. Ripped your organs out! Mmm hm!"

"Ffuh... _What_!" I finally shouted, surprised afterwards at how easily my lungs had taken it. My hand shot to my chest, where I touched an exceedingly tender area directly vertical through the center of my ribcage. I grimaced as I lightly rubbed my hand across the long wound through my layer of clothing.

"So, my... Lungs... They're gone?" I muttered, feeling my heart rate speed up at the shock.

"Those _human_ ones, yes. Ahh, you're progressing by the second..." Zim stuck out his chest proudly at this, turning to press some buttons on a nearby screen that hovered next to the table.

"My lungs..." I muttered, turning back to stare at the tangle of wires in the ceiling. Something that felt like a large lump of hard wax had settled into my gut at this thought. My lungs were _gone_ . The things inside of me that allowed me to breathe, to stay _alive_, were no longer my own. They weren't even human. It was at that moment I knew, without a doubt, that there was no turning back.

* * *

Uh, short-ish chapter. Had to get things moving, but finish this fanfic I will! Bewares! --lurches off-- >:3 


	8. Chapter 8:: Last days of Life

**--Chapter 8 (Last Days of Life)--**

"D'ya have aaany twooos?"

"Eh... No, Gir, we're done playing go fish. This is crazy eights, you have to put down a seven or a dia--"

"TWOOOSS!" I grimaced, Gir leaping to his feet and twitching madly, scattering his cards about. "THE TWOS LOVE ME!"

"Gaah, fine!" I exclaimed, "Have my twos! You're impossible!" With that I tossed my entire hand of cards right at the small robot's face, after which he broke out in giggles of sheer joy. He caught a card and bit it in half, smiling like a child eating candy.

"Stupid robot..." I stood to my feet, frowning in frustration as I walked out of Zim's kitchen. Any second with Gir was pure chaos. However, Minimoose was sleeping, and I was bored out of my mind, so I had attempted to teach the dysfunctional thing a few simple card games. After that experience, I never bothered to try to get Gir to learn anything more complicated than what a goldfish with down syndrome could handle.

I wandered into the bathroom, sighing as I leaned on the sink, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. I looked horrible. In the few days that I had been at Zim's house, the skin-peeling had spread from my hands to my whole body, making my skin look like a diseased, molting snake's. The tracking collar still fixed around my neck caught my eye, its small red light blinking periodically. I wasn't allowed to leave Zim's house with that thing still on. Once the transformation had sped up with the lungs incident, the alien didn't want me anywhere too far away. He didn't want to miss any progress with "his creation". Five days had passed since I was taken to his house, each one accompanied with more deterioration of my human side, and more progression of the Irken side. I had enough blood spill out every orifice in my face to make the sink look like it was hit by a B-movie monster at times.

At that stage, everything itched. My skin felt the way it used to about a week after a bad sunburn- at that point, my body only wanted to get rid of the excess, so it felt as if I had chickenpox all over again. Frowning, I drew a sink of water, trying not to focus too much on wanting to scratch. I pulled off the silver pinky ring that I often wore, setting it next to the tap as I washed my face, trying to scrub off the last few patches of dead skin that were stuck to me. After about five minutes of raw scrubbing, my entire face and neck was as green as Zim's was, tinged slightly pink from being washed so vigorously. I bit at my lip, staring at my wet reflection, unsure of what I should make of it. After only a minute, I couldn't stand to look at the mirror anymore. I turned from it, still biting onto my lip as I slid my ring back on and grabbed for the towel.

I couldn't help but mentally curse out Zim as I dried my face. Even though I was living in his _house,_ in his presence so often for medical tests and whatever else he needed to do to me to keep me alive, he never told me exactly why he was doing any of it. At that point, I figured I wouldn't get anything out of him until it was too late anyway. Frustrated as ever, I tossed the towel carelessly into the corner, making my retreat back out of the bathroom.

"Hello, Minimoose..." I mumbled as I passed the small creature, lying asleep on the floor in the hall. With a faint, groggy squeak, it opened its eyes and floated slowly to my side, looking slightly drunk. Minimoose followed as I wandered to the living room of the house, drifting by my head as I sat down. With a small grumble, I picked up the television remote, staring at it. Television was pointless. I gazed upward at the nearby window across the room, the sky painted violet and pink from the setting sun. With a sigh, I tossed the remote onto the floor and flopped over to lie on the couch, Minimoose settling by my feet. My eyes closed to the sound of Gir still scattering cards in the kitchen, squealing happily as I drifted asleep.

-

I woke up to the rather unpleasant sensation of something sucking on my lefthand. I sat up with a jolt, trying to fling off whatever was attached me, which turned out to be Gir.

"Gyahh! Gir, get off!" I yanked my drool-covered hand away, Gir instantly turning to run in the opposite direction and slam into the wall, screaming the whole time. "Ick..." I tried to shake the slobber off of me, wondering while doing so how a robot even _produced _drool. While looking over my dripping left hand, I noticed something. Two of my fingers were gone.

"Fffuh... What...?" I blinked in a stupor, gazing at my hand. They were definitely _gone, _that was for sure. In place of the two missing were only two fingers left, plus a thumb, each one as green as my face and coming to a claw-like point. Instantly, I lifted up my right hand and stared at it as well. It was the same, both of them totally void of any scraps of human skin. The only difference on my right... Was the fact that my silver pinky ring was fused half-way in to the finger furthest from my thumb. My eye twitched as I gazed at, after which I let out a scream shrill enough to wake Minimoose and cause him to join in.

I stumbled to my feet, still screaming as I ran into the bathroom. Gir followed behind me, arms flailing as he screeched, Minimoose following behind him as he too continued to shriek. I stopped shouting momentarily to stare at myself blankly in the mirror, eyes wide.

My _nose _was gone.

Immediately Gir, Minimoose, and I picked up the mindless screaming. After a few moments without inhaling, I gasped in a breath of air, grabbing roughly onto the edge of the sink to regain my balance. I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts as Minimoose and Gir kept screaming, both of them looking oblivious as to why they even were.

"O-okay! Okay, calm down!" I called out, still staring at my nose-less face in the mirror. Minimoose stopped his shrieking, looking around the bathroom as if he was lost. Gir, however, sat on the floor, rocking back and forth as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Gir! Shut up!" I knocked him over with a light kick, which finally caused him to stop yelling. He stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds, but soon after broke out giggling, rolling around on the tiles on the bathroom floor.

I winced at the small robot's incessant madness, looking back to my reflection. I ran one of my green fingers over where my nose once was, grimacing at the touch. The area was tender, but there was no real sign that it had fallen off, or been in any way removed. It was simply _gone_, as if it had melted into my face. With a small whimper, I looked down to my right hand, gently plucking at the ring that was stuck in it. It seemed as if it was completely fused into my bone, refusing to budge no matter which way I tugged at it. All I was accomplishing was making my finger hurt really badly.

With another whimper, I turned quickly to pace out of the bathroom, pulling up my sweatshirt's sleeves while doing so. Like I was dreading, several flakes of human skin fell from them as I did so, my arms completely smooth and green. I didn't doubt that the rest of my skin was in that state. Without another thought, I turned to Gir.

"Gir! There... There's a purple ice cream bunny somewhere in the house. You better find it before it melts, then eat it. Go on!" Gir instantly leapt to attention and ran off down the hall, his arms flailing. With a faint sigh of relief, I turned to Minimoose. "Minimoose, I... I need you to do possibly the biggest favor you could do for me right now."

"Squeak," he answered innocently, smiling without reason.

"I need you to deactivate this for... For an hour." I gestured to the tracking collar that was still fixed around my neck. "Please, Minimoose, I promise I'll come back here. I just need to talk to someone. I promise." I looked to the purple-tinged creature with pleading eyes, as he looked back with a troubled expression. Finally, he drifted over to me and bumped several times into the collar, which resulted in a faint beep, then nothing.

"That... That was it?" I asked, tugging on the collar lightly.

"Squeak," Minimoose replied, drifting to settle on the couch, his cock-eyed little face looking dejected.

"Thank you, I... I promise I'll be back later. Don't tell Zim that I'm gone, please..." Without another word, I turned from Minimoose and raced to the door, opening it as quietly as I could. I exited into the night, without a clue as to what time it was. Nevertheless, it didn't matter- I _had _to go get some help.

-

_clink... clink..._

I frowned in anxiety as I tossed another pebble up to the window of Dib's room, hoping desperately that he would hear the clatter and wake up. I chucked the fifth tiny stone against his glass, with more force than the last few. Finally, I sighed in relief, Dib's bed-headed form walking up to the window to slide it open.

"...Rem?" He asked groggily, rubbing at his eyes under his glasses.

"Dib!" I hissed, trying to keep quiet. "Get down here, I need to talk to you!"

"Jeez, where have you _been_? I thought Zim had--" Looking worried and without finishing his sentence, Dib turned from the window and raced out of view, leaving me in silence in the chilly night air. After about a minute, the front door to Dib's house opened quietly, Dib stepping from behind it. He raced up to me, tugging on his black trench coat while approaching.

"So where _were _you, were you at Zim's house? Was he not letting you leave? He hasn't been at school either so I figured he had you, what was he doing? Did you change anymore? Is... Is your _nose _gone? What do you think your progression rate is? Do you--"

"Dib, jeez, calm down. I'm..." I glanced to the side, trying to word my sentence correctly to keep Dib from getting any more excited than he already was. "I was at Zim's, yeah, but he didn't really do too much more testing on me. I mean, nothing that changed... _progression_ from the way it already is. He was just pretty much keeping me hostage so he could _watch_. I'm still... transforming, but it's all going too fast. Zim's obviously thrilled about that, but... Damnit, Dib, you have to help me. Look at my _hands_." At that, I thrust out my hands for Dib to see, holding out my fused, clawed fingers and wiggling them slightly. In surprise, Dib touched my right hand, lightly rubbing a finger across the ring that was merged to where my pinky should have been.

"I had to sneak out of Zim's house to see you. Minimoose deactivated the tracking collar for me for a while, but I really don't know how long I have until Zim notices," I said.

"Man, Minimoose helping you? That's... Alright, we don't have much time. I need to get you back to the lab, Zim might have even seen you leave through those lawn gnomes he has set up."

"...Crap." My eyes grew wide at the thought, a surge of dread settling into my stomach. "I didn't think of that."

"Then come on already!" Dib called over his shoulder to me, already racing off to Professor Membrane's lab, which lay several blocks away.

I followed on command, wishing desperately that some hope remained where Dib was taking me. The two of us raced down the faintly lit streets, our rapid footsteps echoing in the silence. After a short while we approached the massive exterior to Professor Membrane's lab, both of us panting as we slowed to a hurried walk. Veering to the left, we turned the corner around the edge of the main building, walking up to what looked like a high-tech garage. It was the same section of the lab Dib had taken me to only several days before. Like I had seen him do previously, Dib placed his palm flat on a panel next to the front door of the lab, which scanned across it with a thin, white light. After a single beep, a slot above the hand panel opened, a small device extending from within.Dib liftedhis glasses and held his right eye open, the mechanism scanning over his iris with a projected red light. Reassuringly, a click resounded somewhere inside the door we stood in front of. Dib finally slid a key into the door's keyhole and opened it. The two of us walked inside, the halls of the storage laboratory lighting up automatically as we entered.

"Does it always take that long to get into this lab? Jeez, someone could have died while just trying to unlock the stupid door," I said, somewhat frustrated.

"You should see the entrance to the main lab," Dib replied. "You don't want to KNOW what you have to go through to get into there. Oh, here it is." Dib waked over to a nearby counter and picked up the DNA analyzer he had used on me previously. Without waiting to be asked, I held out my hand for Dib to place inside the machine, another quick stab meeting my palm. I pulled away, licking lightly at the drop of blood that had formed in the small puncture.

Frowningto himself,Dib stepped over to one of the gigantic computers that lined that lab like walls and plugged in the machine. Like I had feared, the display that was revealed on the screen showed a rather depressing picture. The DNA in my cells were no longer twitching in combat against Zim's mutationisers- Instead, whatever remained of my DNA lay defeated and nearly lifeless, masses of blurry green Irken DNA taking their place as if they had won the war. With a groan, I slid down to lean against the control panel in front of the massive computer, staring up at the monitor.

"You don't really need me to explain this, do you?..." Dib all but whispered, pausing in the hurried typing he had been doing on the computer's vast keyboard. He looked at me with a troubled expression, which only caused me to feel all the worse. If even _Dib _was discouraged, how could I expect to have any hope at all?

"No... But how much longer do I have?..." I asked, speaking even more quietly than Dib had.

"Maybe... Several days..." He replied, his gaze breaking from mine and snapping back to the computer screen. He continued to type, his brow furrowed.

_Several days... _I repeated in thought to myself, my vision shifting to focus on nothing at all. _And that's a maybe... _Suddenly I felt dizzy, my vision fading out completely for a brief second. I regained control with a partial slip off the control panel I was leaning on, gripping onto it to keep from passing out completely.

"So, there... There's nothing you can really do?" I asked feebly to Dib, trying to keep from looking at the computer screen.

"Rem, I've been trying to create _some_ kind of antidote the last few days, but... Nothing. It's just too hard to isolate..." Dib shook his head as he spoke to me without making eye contact, eyes fixed to the screen as he typed in command after command.

"Dib?..."

"Hm?"

"Have... Have you or 15 heard anything from my... My mom?" My eyes focused on Dib's hands as he typed, using them to keep from looking at his eyes or the computer screen. As soon as I sated the question, however, he stopped.

"...Oh. Well, she... She's fine."

I bit onto my lower lip, glaring at Dib's immobile hands. "She forgot about me, didn't she?"

Immediately, Dib turned his gaze to me, looking shaken. "How did-- How did you _know_?"

"She never was the brightest Pop-Tart in the box," I replied, showing the faintest smile. I knew my expression must have been dripping with cynicism.

"Oh..." Dib frowned as he spoke, scratching at one of the keys awkwardly for a moment. He didn't seem to know what to say, and after a moment he simply resumed typing. "She seems fine though, y'know...I mean, not really _upset_.I was at your house a few days ago, looking for you, and... Well, she was clueless. She had some goldfish, though, and had it named Remliss. Thought I wanted to talk to it. Do you think she's in denial?..."

"No," I stated simply, shaking my head. "I believe it, as sad as that sounds." Dib glanced at me briefly at this, then resumed typing. His usual, determined stance seemed to be drooping somewhat.

"Dib, I... If there's nothing else we can do, I should probably go..."

Dib froze for a moment, seeming to think over what I had said. Finally, he typed in several short commands and the computer shut down, the unpromising view of my dying DNA finally gone. Dib turned to me, nodding once as he glanced into my eyes. He then turned to the DNA analyzer, picking it up to carry back over to the counter he had gotten it from.

"I wish I had the time to myself, but... Could you tell 15 something for me?" I asked quietly to Dib, tugging on the bottom hem of my sweatshirt.

"What?"

"Tell him... To go on without me. I had asked him before to hang through this thing with me, but I don't even want him to have to live through this. Tell him I'll be fine, what... Whatever happens."

Dib nodded at me with troubled eyes, choosing not to say anything.

"Oh," I added, the faint smile back on my lips. "And tell him to take care of the windowsill for me."

---

The walk back fromthe labwas a long one. I was alone.Even though I knew I should have been running, I simply couldn't get myself to do anything too fast- it seemed my brain was the only thing that was moving a mile a minute. Thoughts and ideas were racing through my mind with every trudging step- Most of them merely about what I should do, relating to everything. I knew if I truly wanted to, I could just run. Take off that very second, go as far as I could, and just hope that somehow I could get the tracking collar off and prevent Zim from finding me. Sadly, I knew I had better chances of getting caught in a pizza thunderstorm than that happening. It seemed the only choice I really had was to simply walk back to Zim's house and ride things out. I hated how that sounded, giving up completely, but what could I do? I had no ways to fight back. There was nobody I could go to. Even the one person who knew this enemy the most, Dib, was no help at all. Doing _nothing _was basically my only option.

I strode down the street like a robot at that point, my feet independently seeming to take me back to the last place I wanted to be. In the distance, I could already see the glowing silhouette of Zim's teal house, which seemed to glare at me as I approached. I squinted my eyes as I shifted my glance down to the street below me, feeling as if the house itself was waiting to pass judgment on me as soon as I entered.

As I stepped onto the path leading to the door, no alarms sounded. The garden gnomes' eyes seemed to watch me with mild interest, but not a single one moved to attack me. I stepped so quietly, the only sound around me came from the crickets hiding among the plants. I held my breath as I stepped onto the front step, gingerly grabbing onto the doorknob.

The living room was dark when I entered it. My eyes scanned the area, but I couldn't see anyone nearby. The couch lay empty, leaving me to wonder where Minimoose was. I only hoped he was somehow trying to keep Zim from finding I was gone. As I closed the door I breathed a sigh of relief, at least glad that nothing had tackled and killed me on the way in. I strode towards the kitchen, still looking for any sign of Zim.

The kitchen, too, was empty, much to my relief. I took a seat by the table, leaning on my elbows and finally breathing normally. It seemed I was safe. I blinked my tired eyes slowly, wondering what time it was. I was too tired, both physically and mentally, to find a clock, so I simply let my eyes fall closed for a moment. _I'm stuck..._ I thought, biting again at the skin on my bottom lip. _Stuck in this situation... Suck as whatever it is I'll turn out to be, if I even survive all these changes... _I drifted to sleep leaning on the table with miserable thoughts running through my head, feeling more alone than I ever had.

---

_15 stood alone under the street lamp, holding his black jacket tightly around him as he glanced down the sidewalk. In the distance, he caught sight of Dib walking quickly towards him, not a minute late. With hurried words, he sped over to meet Dib half way, whispering._

"_Dib! What did you hear from Rem? I haven't seen her in nearly a week, is she..."_

"_She's still changing," Dib said, not showingany of his previous fear that 15 was somehow a vampire."Quickly, too quickly, she's more than half Irken at this point, but... I really called you out here to tell you something from her. She asked me to say that she... Wanted you to go on with your own life, really... Man, 15, I'm sorry, but... It's just what she said. She said that it was too much for anyone to handle, that she didn't want anyone else to have to go through it with her..."_

"_She... She said that?" 15 asked, eyes pleading for an alternative._

"_She did..." Dib nodded softly, glancing down to the sidewalk. "Still, we have to _do _something, 15! We can't just let Zim have her! I want you to... tohelp me kidnap her back."_

"_Wait, _kidnap _her? Are you crazy? Damnit, Dib, I've listened to you ramble, believe it or not. You've said that alien has machinery that could wipe out the whole planet, if he thought up a good enough plan. We're just two people, he could do anything to us! What the hell could we _do, _anyway?"_

"_Stealth," replied Dib, frowning in determination. "I don't have enough time to make any weapons, not even to get back to my Dad's lab. If we do anything, we do it now, while it's still night. You don't have to come, but I could sure use the help." Dib turned his head up to 15, meeting his gaze as if to try to convince him using his eyes._

"_I... Yes. Yeah, I'll help. I don't have a damn clue on what I could do, but... I'll try."_

_A few moments of brief planning, and the two boys raced down the street together, heading for the house where Rem was trapped. Breathless, the two paused behind the wooden fence that surrounded the yard, readying themselves for the feeble plan Dib had prepared minutes before. With a nod from Dib, the boys hopped the fence, landing warily on Zim's soft lawn._

_The ambush was quick, faster than the two could have ever expected. Like metallic lightning, two robotic spider legs knocked the boys down and pinned them both to the grass, the menacing form of Zim rising before them. In the faint illumination his own house produced, his eyes seemed to glow with their own fire, his grinning face looming far above the petrified humans._

"_Hello there, Dib. 15. I expected you two to come." With faint metallic clicks, the mechanical spider legs carried Zim closer to his captives, as he crossed his arms in triumph. "Yes, I knew Rem was gone. I knew she _would _leave at one point. Minimoose simply favors her too much. But oh, I also knew she would come back, leading both of you right to me. Unfortunate creatures, trying so hard to control things that you have no right to be concerned with... No matter." Without warning, Zim descended several feet, the spider legs angling him to lean inches from Dib's face. He whispered threateningly to him, smiling all the while. "Dib-beast. You have no idea what pleasure I'd get from simply impaling you right this moment. But no, I've got far better plans for your demise. Something long and slow. Thanks to your little friend Rem... I'll see to it that the entire armada will witness your destruction. For now, Dib... I'm letting you live with that little bit of information. Relish in the fact that you are living your last stretch of existence, which _I _control with my very hands. But now..." Zim rose back to the spider legs' full height, releasing the two simultaneously. "Go. Both of you. I've got far more... Earth-changing topics to attend to. Besides..." He grinned wider, his eyes glinting. "If you really wanted to know, it's already too late to save your little friend Rem. The task is complete, pathetic things. Now run your little meat-legs back to your puny homes. Try to get to Rem again, and I'll forget about saying I'd spare your lives for the time being." Suddenly glowering, Zim turned and clattered his spider legs across the cement path back to his front door, opening it and swiftly entering without another word._

_The door shut loudly behind him, instantly causing the gnomes guarding Zim's lawn to awaken, all turning to face the two boys with glowing eyes. Without hesitating, the two turned and ran, not waiting to see if Zim would uphold his promise to let them live._


End file.
